Embrah Bridger: Book 1: The Newest Instructor
by SageZan
Summary: Feeling that you don't belong in life is something many are familiar with. But for Embrah Bridger, it's an issue he's dealt with being a Yōsuru Clan member, with the clan itself specializing in assassinations, feeling if he stays any longer he'll do something he'll regret all his life. But after a chance meeting with Ozpin, will he find his place or succumb to his clan's customs?
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

**Chapter 1: Introduction**

 **A/N: Happy New Year Everyone! SageZan here and welcome one and all to my account, appreciate it. First things first, just wanted to say hello fanfic readers of all ages to my very first story. Now this is gonna be a rough start mind you, since this is my first attempt at writing a story here on the site. But I hope to progress my skills through writing this story and others that I will hopefully post soon.**

 **This is something I thought of a while back during my binge marathon of RWBY for the first time of Volume 2 and thought it would be pretty cool to make. And while this was thought of more a year ago, I still had the idea simmering in my brain, since it refused to leave, waiting for me to fucking write it, as it mocks me from within, calling me a lazy piece of shit with no motivation or standards whatsoever... to which I completely agree with. So, here we are.**

 **I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this story going because of the ever-changing mess that is my mind, but hopefully that will get sorted out along the way. Also, I may or may not change the name of this story just to throw it out there, so don't freak out if you can't find it. Read the summary like someone with common sense would do in that sort of situation, so you don't come across as someone who doesn't know shit about the unspoken rules about, well anything worthwhile to just know. Just saying.**

 **But anyway, with that out the way, let's get started with Arcane Forsaker. Enjoy.**

* * *

When looking at the overhead of Forever Fall during midday, you can see just how truly beautiful it is, especially in a world such as Remnant. With the color of crimson stretching miles from every direction, giving it the appearance of a vast ocean, as the leaves seem to dance as the chilling wind passes by, the serene quiet able to calm anyone when their emotions are stirred. It's pretty much a perfect place for people who enjoy the simplicity, even with the Grimm being there, as they are attracted by the sweet scent the red sap in the trees produce, stalking along the ground, looking for their next victim to assail, it's still preferable than most places near the kingdom of Vale. People have been able to avoid the Grimm by mapping out paths that they would go through so it's a rarity that people will come into contact with the creatures.

Even still, with the dangers the forest possesses, it's a place where you can go and relax and get away from all the distractions in anyone's life, where you would rarely see or hear any acrimony. It's a risk many people would take. So, it will come to anyone's surprise that there would be sounds of a skirmish going on within the tranquil woodland. Growls and snarling can be heard, letting anyone who has a brain know that whatever's over in that general direction is just a bad time, waiting for any unfortunate soul dumb enough to see what the commotion is... (don't know why you would or should anyway, but that's just me).

In a clearing near the tree line, a young man is seen engaging a small pack of Beowolves, five in total, their claws slashing at him in rapid succession, yet always coming up short of actually touching his person.

The young man himself was effortlessly evading each strike, steel blue eyes roaming from one beast to another, all the while looking past them, keeping an eye out towards a cluster of trees nearby. Seeing that the man would sometimes avert his eyes onto another matter entirely, one of the Beowolves jumped in the air and attempted to strike him from above, only for the man to sidestep to the right towards another one, the creature lunging, having aimed its teeth for the back of his throat. The man grabs the one that's still airborne by the arm and twists his body towards the one attacking his back, using the momentum of its descent to slam them both into the ground.

One of the others sprinted in, going for his legs with a low slash of its claw, only for the man to vault over it, making his way towards the two who haven't attacked yet. Seeing him coming their way, both creatures of Grimm rush forward, opting to meet halfway. When they were about seven feet away from each other, the beasts leaped towards him, teeth gnashing and claws flashing, both going for a tackle. The young man predicted this, however, and responded by sliding beneath the Grimm, appearing on the other side as he quickly turns around, ready to engage, but not before grabbing hold of the weapon he had borrowed for any encounter within the forest from his lower back on his right side.

The weapon was a Bolo Machete, a simple design of a 16-inch blade, 22 inches overall with the hilt. While a bit old with slight rust, it's still enough for these current enemies. Rushing forward and using the butt of the weapon, he bashed the Beowolf closest to him in the jaw, causing it to stagger and fall. Then, switching his grip on the handle so that it was reversed, he closed in low on the other one from its side and did an upward slash starting from the front of its neck towards the back, cleaving its head clean off.

The previous three Beowolves, after recovering their bearings, decided to charge the machete-wielding fighter, attacking from three different directions. The man turned towards the closest one and, ducking from the lunge and twisting his body at an angle, he swings his arm, switching his grip once again, and bisected the Beowolf from its abdomen. He then quickly turned and launched himself at the two still going towards him, kicking off the ground, spinning in midair, blade flashing, passing by them swiftly decapitating them, landing in front of the last creature still alive.

After finally having cleared its head from the previous blow to the jaw, the last Beowolf noticed it's fallen brethren, scattered around and turning into the black, eerie mist that many are common with, turning to eye the man, now cautious of its opponent. It circles him, all the while the man is also cautious of the Beowolf, seeing it has stopped randomly attacking, learning from the others' mistakes. He stands his ground, tensing his body slightly, not making a single move that may alert the Grimm into making a move.

The lone Grimm continues to circle the man for a few more seconds, looking for any signs so that it can go in for the kill when it hears a peculiar sound, the sound of metal banging against something. It turns its head towards the cluster of trees the man was eyeing earlier. Noticing the Beowolf looking at the cluster, the man wasted no time in closing the distance between them. The Beowolf had no time to realize the mistake it has made, turning around to face the man again before it was too late, only for the machete to thrust through its head, killing it instantly.

The man pulls out the weapon and returns it to the sheath on his back with the last of the current threat dealt with. He takes one look around the clearing and into the trees around him to make sure no other Grimm will make itself known. Once his sees that it's all clear for now, he then makes his way towards the tree cluster he's been focused on since the start of the fight. From within the cluster, a group of people emerged, making their way towards the man to meet halfway.

Two kids within the group, a boy and a girl both around the age of 11, ran up ahead towards him, buckets filled with red sap in their hands, both grinning from ear to ear.

"That was so awesome, Embrah!" the boy exclaimed, youthful eyes filled with admiration, shaking in place with excitement, "The way you were moving was so fast and cool! How did you do that? Are you a ninja? I want to be a ninja! Can you do sneaky ninja stuff and hide in plain sight? Do you follow people for secret intel? Are you able to-"

"Whoa Dex, calm yourself." The man, now known to be called Embrah, said looking down at the boy with a hand placed on his shoulder, smiling, "To answer your first question, I had a lot of practice going fast and looking cool. As for the second one, no I'm not a ninja. That would be cool though."

While Dex was contemplating the whole fight with admiration on his face, the girl walked up to the young man, setting down the bucket before going for a hug.

"Thank you for helping us with this again." She says, smiling up at him, her face beaming with happiness.

Embrah pats her on the head, smiling and a little surprised from the sudden contact.

"Well, I'm just doing my job, Naomi. It's the least I can do for you for letting me stay in your village." He felt her releasing her hold around him as he went to pick up her bucket. After he does this, he then looks at both of them with an unreadable expression.

"By the way, this is me just being curious, while I was having a mental showdown with my beastly opponent trying to see who would take down the other, I distinctively heard an odd sound. The sound of metal, mind you. Why is it odd? Well, if I remember correctly, there was supposed to be complete silence while I engage the Grimm. Mm, now I just want to know, who was the one to make that little noise that got the attention of my battle buddy, hmm?"

Both kids look at each other, their eyes widening in recognition, a sudden nervousness hung over their heads like a cloud. Dex looking like he might start to think of an excuse as to why that was the case when Naomi just looked up to Embrah with an embarrassed face.

"W-well you see, we wanted to see how you were doing against the monsters and I guess we kinda got a little to… uh…"

"A little curious for your own good I'm guessing?" Embrah finished her sentence with an arched eyebrow.

Naomi blushed and looked away sheepishly, nodding in confirmation.

Embrah sighs and starts to smile as he starts to say something to the both of them, only for Dex to suddenly go up to Embrah with a nervous expression, but then looks up to him before doing a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. We just wanted to see you in action. And we just got carried away and we shoulda just stayed still and waited for you to be done so we could move on to our next stop and so we could get all of this done faster to head back to the village in one piece so everyone wouldn't have to be all worried about any more attacks and to try and map out the forest better for the future. But it was stupid of us to do this and we won't do it again, I promise, so don't blame-"

Before Dex could say any more, Embrah places his hand over his mouth, stopping the rapid-fire coming in, or out in this case. Both kids look at him as he gives a soft expression.

"Dex, ease up on the apology." He says with a smile, "It's fine. Just be careful next time you want to see someone in action, even if it seems they have everything under control. You never know what could happen."

Dex and Naomi look at each other before looking back at Embrah with smiles and determined looks on their faces.

"We promise." They both say.

Embrah rubs both their head with his hands.

"Glad to know that." He looks towards the arriving group, "Well, now it's time to move on I'm guessing."

They both nod in agreement.

The rest of the group met with the three, some holding buckets of the sap, while most of the sap was being pulled in two wagons by some horses. The eldest of the group walks up to Embrah, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Embrah, I can't thank you enough for helping us retrieve the sap. It's been quite difficult to obtain our usual supply of the stuff, with the sudden rise of more Grimm appearing in the area. But, it's to be expected as the summer season closes in, making the sap easily obtainable and gives off sweeter aroma."

Embrah looks at the man, smirking. "You know Bal, you could've asked me for help earlier. I would have been happy to do so. And I doubt that a few Grimm would've been able to make you stop the sap supply run anyway."

True to what Embrah was saying, the man, Balder Green, was by no means just a simple villager. At 6'4'', he has quite a noticeable build, obvious to anyone to see him that he trains his body often. Even with old age catching up to him, he still looks like he can take anything that's thrown at him. Black hair with grey on the sides can tell you that he is well within the age group of 40 and above. His body covered with scars from many years of fighting the Grimm that come near his village, the most noticeable ones on his face, one going from his left temple towards his chin, and the other going from his nose going to his right ears, nearly losing it.

Balder laughs at this, and with weary eyes of someone who has lived through many hardships and overcame many obstacles, stares down at the 5'10'' tall young man.

"You give me too much credit. Nowadays, I'm only good for helping guide my people through safe passageways and helping keep the village together."

"Well, that's still an arduous task many wouldn't take. It is crucial for your village to receive the sap."

Balder smiles and pats Embrah on the shoulder, then turns to motion the rest of the group to follow him back to the village.

"Oh, we're done already?" Embrah asks.

"Trust me, we have more than enough for our needs. And since you helped with the Grimm, we were able to draw safer paths to get to some good spots."

And with that, they all started their trek back towards the village, both Dex and Naomi staying near Embrah, either to ask more questions about his skills or to just to be around for his company.

/-/

Somnium Village, residing in a small, rural area a few miles southwest of Forever Fall, near the kingdom of Vale. A place for people who prefer the simple atmosphere and quiet, rather the bustling of a city lifestyle. The people there are strong spirituality and physically, from all the things they had to go through to get to where they are now, from the few Grimm attacks to sudden bandit raids; low resources from their surroundings to bitter and dried up soil that refused to grow anything that was planted; and little to no help from neighboring villages in the beginning.

Yet, they still strived to build up from the little they had into a place that is thriving with lush vegetation within and throughout the perimeter of the village and businesses with other villages and towns, and even some business transactions with the kingdom of Vale. Which is where the sap comes into play.

Not many people know about this, but the red sap that comes from Forever Fall is very versatile, used in many different ways one couldn't even begin to imagine. One is obviously to make sweet syrup, while another is to make antibiotic gel for medical situations, as is making a bacterial sealant, helping prevent bleeding and stopping unwanted germs from entering open wounds.

The people of Somnium produce as well as export these products to places in Vale and to neighboring villages. They make quite a profit from this, allowing for better imports, helping ease their living as they do try to keep up with modern times and technology, but try not to rely on it too much.

The group had returned with the abundance of sap and the ones responsible for managing and manufacturing came up to collect them from the group.

Embrah, after some time to refresh himself and spending some extra time with the kids, made his way towards the village's central building where the chief resides, along with Balder to report on the supply run for the sap.

Upon entering the large structure, they were greeted by some of the people who worked there as secretaries. After politely returning the greetings, both men made their way up the stairs to the third floor, to where the chief awaits them in his office.

Both of them approach the double wooden doors, as Balder knocks on them.

After hearing the go-ahead, they entered the room. On the left to them was painting of the founding of the village and its founders from many years ago. Next to it was a table covered in papers and files, clustered about, noting that they were recently looked through. To their right was a leather couch for visitors who come for an audience with the man in charge, for any extras. In the center was a large desk filled with paperwork and utilities, along with what looked like leftovers nudged to one of the ends of the desk. Behind the desk was a window, giving anyone who looked through the view of the village. Within the armchair from behind the desk was the village chief.

The man could've looked like he has seen better days, yet at the same time couldn't have looked more in place as a man in charge of an entire settlement. His salt and pepper hair cut short, in a Caesar Cut style. His face revealing some wrinkles forming around his mouth and with crow's feet on his eyes. He is garbed in a black and green flannel shirt, tucked into khaki cargo pants. Brown, worn-out boots protect his feet. A watch on his left wrist, accompanied by a silver ring on his hand. Glasses resting on his forehead as he looks through some documents.

He looks up to see the two men, a smile appearing on his face as he sets down the papers to give them his attention.

"Ah, you've come back so soon. I don't even think it's been more than halfway from your usual time."

"Well, it's all thanks to this guy here." Balder laughs, patting Embrah on his back, "Couldn't have gotten a better haul then we did today without him watching our backs."

Embrah nods his head towards the chief. "It was nothing. I was happy to help you with your sap run."

"Ha, nothing!?" Balder exclaims, "We got 55% more sap than what we usually get thanks to you. And with these new pathways, we could possibly get even more the next time."

Balder laughs. "Hahaha, well isn't that something. We can't thank you enough on this matter, Embrah. If there's anything you want in return…"

Embrah just shakes his head. "As tempting as this sounds, I'll have to refuse on that, Luke."

The chief, known as Luke Durum, snaps his fingers, as he remembered something. "That's right. You're leaving today, yeah?"

"Yes, sir. I just wanted to do this last thing before I left."

Balder looks at him. "It'll be a shame to see you leave, even if you've only been here a few weeks."

"Yeah well, I just like to travel. Besides I can't keep still in one place too long. Need to stretch my legs."

"Haha, I understand" Luke then gets up and walks over to him, patting his shoulder, "At least let us help make your travels a little easier, my boy."

Embrah smiles. "I would appreciate that, thank you."

Luke laughs. "Well, let's get you ready for your departure."

All three goes to leave the room to help Embrah prepare to leave the village.

/-/

There were many people at the gate with Embrah, who was ready to go, with a duffel bags on the floor, nearly filled with some of the stuff he was given to him, along with his personal things, all of them there to say their goodbyes, also as he waits for Balder to return from his home with something of his.

Embrah was more than ready, with a white shirt with a black flame design covering the bottom, leading up to his chest. Black and gray fingerless gauntlets reaching up to his elbows. A black and blue overcoat wrapped around him, reaching down to the back of his knees. Black cargo pants with three white horizontal stripes around the legs with matching leather boots.

While receiving some goodbyes from some people he has come to know during his time in the village, Embrah noticed two figures running towards him quickly. He sees that it's Dex and Naomi, tears in their eyes as they ran into him, almost knocking all three of them to the ground.

"Don't leave yet, Embrah!" Dex cries, a fist balling up his shirt, "You still didn't tell me how you could move so fast and how you got those skills."

Naomi just pushes her face into his shirt, holding on trying to keep him from going.

Embrah looks at them and then goes down one knee, looking at them at eye level.

"Guys, I'm sorry, but it's something that you both knew would happen soon."

Dex sniffs. "We know, but it still isn't something we want."

Naomi looks at Embrah, tears streaming down her face, nodding in agreement.

Embrah sighs and smiles at them. "Look, it's not like I'll be gone forever. I'll come back and visit you someday on the lines of my travels."

"You promise?" Naomi asks.

Embrah puts his right hand over his heart. He uses his left to grasp both their own hands, bringing them to his right, resting them upon it.

"I swear, as my heart still beats now, that I will come back here to see you guys again. And this is a pretty serious promise, mind you. And I don't break my promises."

Dex and Naomi both take their hands back and starts to wipe their eyes free of tears, looking back at him, smiles on both faces.

With a smirk, Embrah rubs both their heads and stands back up.

Balder decides to just arrive at that exact moment with Embrah's last remaining possession.

"All right, here you go. I still don't know why you didn't use this when we were out there instead of that old machete."

Embrah grabs hold of what was in Balder's hands, his sword. With the length of 28 inches and black scabbard. A black and gold crisscross pattern on the hilt with a short chain attached on the end. All in all, while in the scabbard, a regular katana.

Embrah places the weapon within the duffel bag as the last item. "It's just something I don't really use that much. I'll use it when I need to."

Balder ponders over this but quickly shakes those thoughts away. It wasn't something that he needed to think about.

Holding out his hand, Balder then makes his goodbye to the young man.

"Have a safe journey to wherever you go, my friend."

Embrah grabs his hand for a firm shake.

"Thank you, Bal. I hope to see you all soon in the future." He turns over towards the kids, "And I hope to see you guys soon too."

Dex and Naomi both go and give him one last hug before letting him go. With one last wave to the village, Embrah once again sets off to wherever he ends up, wondering how long the next stay would last at his next possible destination.

Little did he know that his next encounter with someone would lead to the events that will question as to where he should be, who should he become, and whether or not he should stop running from his fear that is himself.

* * *

 **Alright then, that was the chapter, also the first chapter of the New Year, so that's something good. So, things will pick up next chapter with Embrah meeting with someone in canon…. Just don't know who yet…**

 **But right now, enjoy the New Year and hoping shit doesn't go down in 2017.**

 **So, to all you guys out there, I'll see you later. Peace out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Old Taste

**Chapter 2: Old Taste**

 **A/N: Hey everyone and welcome back for the second chapter of Arcane Forsaker. Now, before you go and start reading, I want to point out that I realized I made a mistake of not fully describing Embrah in the first chapter like I intended to. I also did this to other characters, but those were intentional. So before moving on, I'm just gonna put his basic description here now, besides the clothes, since they were already described in the previous chapter.**

 **Age: 18**

 **Height: 5'10''**

 **Weight: 176 lbs.**

 **Eye color: Steel Blue**

 **Hair color: Brown**

 **Hair Style: Medium Length (sides just below the ears), Slightly Disheveled**

 **Complexion: Light tan**

 **Well anyway, enough of that. Let's move on to the chapter**.

* * *

It's been a few days since Embrah left Somnium Village and ever since then he has been walking south, planning to make a stop into the city of Vale before continuing onto wherever he will go next. Walking south and away from Forever Fall, he had many encounters with both Grimm and people along the way, prompting him to fight in occasional bouts and to stop and help any stray travelers who had gotten themselves either attacked by Grimm (though only fighting with what he had to use around him or with his own skills as a close quarters fighter) or had gotten lost on their path, the latter with the help of the map of the available area Balder provided for him before he left the village, along with other things he has stored within his duffel.

He has stopped by other villages as well, but only for a few moments at a time. He doesn't stay in one place for too long, at most close to a fortnight. Always moving from place to place, only stopping for either stocking up supplies or resting at an inn, figuring out the next course of action as to where to go next. At this particular time and place, however, he decided to spend a night at a specific local inn in a settlement a few kilometers away from the outskirts of Vale, specifically made for people who had traveled long distances and to help recharge their weary bodies with deserved rest. It is most commonly used by Huntsmen, as they are constantly on the go.

As he walked through the doors of the establishment, Embrah was greeted to the sight of a small rumble taking place over to the right side of the entranceway. He sees that the participants are sluggish with their attacks and often miss even when they're next to one another, often bashing their own faces in, with the stench of alcohol wafting from their location, letting him know that they were good and drunk, so he decided to just quickly move on towards the front desk.

Behind the desk was a man that Embrah assumed to be the innkeeper. Setting down his duffel, he goes and asks for a room to stay the night and for a bottle of their strongest alcohol. The innkeeper arches his brow when asked about the drink, but proceeds to give Embrah a key for a room after paying and is then directed towards the bar on his right for him to receive the solution.

Thanking the innkeeper, who grunts in return, he picks up his bag and makes his way over to the bar. With the fighting still going on in the background, he sits on one of the unaccompanied stools and waves over the bartender on his right to ask for the drink. The bartender, who seems to be having a somewhat intriguing conversation with another customer who should probably ease up on the drinks that is reflected by the reduced volume of liquid of the bottle of scotch before him, looks at him with an unreadable expression, then goes over to tap the shoulder of a younger male, possibly the assistant bartender, who seem to be peeling and cutting potatoes behind him near space leading to the back, to go see what Embrah wanted.

The younger man rolls his eyes and after setting the knife down and wiping his hands, he walks over to Embrah, muttering specific choice words towards his mentor. Said mentor naturally heard them and, like the responsible and wise person a mentor should be towards their budding apprentice, proceeds to slam his fist on top of his head full force before continuing his conversation with the slightly buzzed gentleman.

Wincing and rubbing his head, the man walks in front of Embrah, the pain evident on his face from the hit. Looking at him, he puts up a strained, welcoming face that he's probably made plenty times for many customers before him.

"Welcome to the Blackstone Bar." he states with a monotone voice that clearly contrasts with his expression. "Name's Winston. What can I get for ya today?"

Embrah, who sees that Winston obviously wasn't in the mood to help anyone at the moment, decided to get to what he wanted and puts up a smile in return.

"I was wondering if I can get a bottle of your strongest bourbon. It's called _Saevam Magis_ , I think."

Winston instantly drops his wonted façade and just stares at him in surprise.

"Uh, ya maybe wanna rethink that decision first, mate."

Embrah, still with the smile on his face, can only stare back in confusion.

"How come? Is it too expensive?"

"No, it's not that, at least not just that. It's not really something that most people should care to order here, never mind how well they can hold their liquor, nor is it something people would know about since there hasn't been a bottle sold in about 60 years or so."

"Oh no, it's not for me." Embrah says with a shake of his head. "I'm getting this for someone else in mind. Besides, it would be better if it was aged for a long time. That's what I was told anyway."

Winston looks back towards the bartender who had finished his conversation with the other customer and calls him over.

"Hey boss, this guy wants to buy a bottle of uh, _Saevam Magis_."

The older man walks over towards the two with an arched brow on his face at this information.

" _Saevam Magis_ , huh? Haven't heard anyone order that stuff since I was an apprentice here myself back in the day. Kid, where did you hear about this? It's not something of general knowledge around here, not anymore anyway."

"Well, it's what someone I know told me in the past about how much they enjoyed this when they used to come here, so I thought about buying one for them. I'm more than happy to pay any amount for it."

"Look I don't mind selling it to you, but it's been a long time and it's aged quite a bit. Granted that makes it taste better, but the cost of it isn't to be taken likely."

Embrah reaches down into one of the zippers on his duffel and pulls out a rectangular case around the same size of a medium-sized jewelry box.

"You don't have to worry about me being able to pay for it. I'm more than prepared for it." He says this proceeding to hand over the case containing close to about 8,000 lien and handing them over to the man.

"Well what do you know." he says smiling to Embrah after going through the information on the cards, "This is little over the amount that the bottle costs now."

Embrah chuckles a bit while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I was told how much it was back then. So, I just took a guess on how much it was now."

"Ha, you guessed right, that's for sure. Winston, go down in the cellar and get the bottle for our friend here. I'll be back." With that said, he walks away to the back.

"Welp, time to go digging in the treasure trove. I'll get your bottle in a bit mate, so relax and try to keep yourself occupied. Honestly, it might take a while to find."

"The older, the better." Embrah said.

With a nod, Winston proceeds to walk to the left of the bar and open a door leading into what Embrah is assuming is the cellar on the floor, walking down the steps closing the door behind him.

Embrah took this time to stretch and look around the establishment, not really doing so before because of the fight that took his attention when he first walked in. The place wasn't bad to be honest, though it could probably use a bit of a touch-up. The entire place was built with a wood foundation, a standard with inns within the territory of the kingdom. Tables scattered around filled with people who some are most likely Huntsmen from what he gathered upon scanning the room. On the windows, there can be seen slight condescension from the apparent rain that has fallen a little after residing at the inn.

Embrah sighs and swivels back facing the bar once again, looking upwards at the ceiling. "Not gonna lie, this is a nice place and all but, it could really use a skylight."

A snort was heard to his right, the man who was slamming down shots like it was his job chuckles.

"That's what I told bartender before. This place is a little dull on visual appeal, but apparently it gives it it's, and I quote, "subtle yet unique atmosphere." Heh, I just call it being too cheap to change anything major about this place."

"Hey, places like this are hard to come by and it's appreciated to see that nothing really has changed within the years it's been in business. Wish a lot of establishments can be more like this."

"With a skylight?"

"Oh definitely. You can never go wrong with one."

The man swivels in his chair so that he was facing the room with his elbows resting back on the counter and his eyes closed.

"I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be any different than just walking around from place to place. Least in here, I can rest my aching feet."

"You seem like someone who's quite busy."

"Kid, you don't know the half of it." He yawns to show how so. "But I can't complain about it. Kinda volunteered for what I'm doing."

"I see. Guessing you're most likely a Huntsman." The man nods in response. "And I'm sure you go around to make sure that the world is safe from the creatures of Grimm and all the criminals who spread chaos and misfortune upon the innocent masses." Another nod. "Never had personally met one before. Can you fact check me, if you would?"

"I'd say it's to make sure all the good jobs don't get taken so quick before I can get a shot at them, but yeah, you can say that about pretty much the majority of Huntsmen. Fighting the bad guys, easing people's troubles the best we can; it's hard but it's a life I wouldn't trade for anything else."

"You seem like a good person, unlike most I've heard about some Huntsmen." Embrah looks at the man from the corner of his eyes, "You know, despite the grizzled and unkempt look."

"Hey, I take offense to that. Takes a long time to sculpt a look like this. Lots of girls would swoon if they saw me back in the day."

"Mm, I somehow doubt it, yet at the same time believe that. I'm just gonna stick to the doubting."

The man places a hand on his chest, feigning shock and disbelief.

"That hurts, kid. It really does. But I can take it with stride. You're not the first squirt to tell me how my looks affect my more "active" lifestyle. I seem to do well on my own, thank you very much."

Embrah shakes his head at the man's self-proclamation of the opposite sex and his ability to be able to swoon them.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Embrah decides to get to the point with the conversation.

"So then, if you may be so kind as to answer me this, why have you been following me for the past five months?"

The Huntsman reaches back to take the glass, taking another sip before answering.

"Wow, you knew for that long, huh." He chuckles at this. "That's impressive, and that's coming from me. I might not look like it, but I'm pretty good at the whole stealth thing. The fact that you found me out from the very start speaks volumes of your skills. But I guess that's to be expected from someone like you. And where you come from."

Embrah immediately stiffens at this before sighing and facing him directly.

"So how much do you know about me?"

"Hey, before you start asking any questions, now it isn't really the right place to be talking about all of this. Meet me in room 203 a bit later on. We can discuss this more in private, where there won't be any stray ears around. Will be waiting for you until then, if you show up anyway."

He gets up after downing the remains of his drink and procedures over to the stairs leading upstairs to the sleeping quarters.

As Embrah watches him go, the cellar door opens up and Winston walks out with the whiskey bottle, wiping the drink which was covered with a layer of dust accumulated over the years. Finishing the cleanup, he walks up to Embrah to present the aged delicacy.

"Here ya go, mate. One bottle of _Saevam Magis_ , as requested."

"….."

"Uh, mate? You ok there?"

"Huh, what?" Embrah turns to look at him, instantly putting smile on his face. "Oh, sorry Winston. Mind was somewhere else for a bit."

"Ah, s'alright. I do the same from time to time. Was just sayin' that I got the bottle, as per requested."

He hands over the bottle to Embrah, as he looks it over. The blue and green colors complement each other, while on the plain white label is the name and details of the drink.

 _Saevam Magis_

 _Date made: 2XXX_

"Thanks, Winston. Really happy to get this, finally."

"No problem, mate. I'm happy that we're able to actually sell another bottle of this stuff."

Embrah looks up from the label and stares at him. "You sold a bottle to someone before?"

"Oh me, no. The boss was the one to sell it. It was years back, won't be able to remember much though, as I was just starting the whole job thing."

"Mm, well anyway, thanks again for the bottle." Embrah places the bottle into his duffel before picking it up, moving the strap over his shoulder.

"Alright mate, I'll see ya around, then."

Embrah moves over to and up the stairs to the second floor and searches for his room. Pulling out the key, he sees the numbers 211 etched into the metal. After finding the door, he opens it and enters his temporary abode.

Inside the room was a standard setup for an inn. A table with some chairs were off to the side, next to the little kitchen area. A separate room containing the bathroom was over to the left of the entranceway. At the back of the room was a bed, centered against the wall. The was a small lamp on a desk right next to the bed, with a window on the opposite side of it looking out towards the direction of Vale.

He sets down his duffel on the bed and shifts through it, pulling out a plain black shirt and matching black and blue pajama pants, before walking over to the bathroom to wash up.

/-/

After the shower and making something to eat, he exits the room and walks over to the door across from him. Looks at it to see the faded numbers, 203, written on it.

With a quick breath, he knocks on the door. After waiting for a couple of seconds, he knocks again. Still, after 12 seconds, there was no response from the other side of the door. Instead of just knock on the door, this time Embrah curled his hand into a fist and started to bang on the door, hoping that would do the trick. Soon after he retracts his hand, a low groan was heard inside the room.

A few seconds later, footsteps can be heard moving towards to door, followed by the sound of unlocking, with the door finally opening, revealing the Huntsman in a wrinkled gray shirt and with the black pants he was wearing before. Looking down, Embrah sees that he was barefoot.

A yawn caused him to look up to see that the man looked like he just woke up from a deep sleep.

The man looks down at Embrah with a frown. "Jeez kid, you know how late it is."

Embrah raises an eyebrow.

"Uh, it's only been an hour since we meet and it's not even midnight yet."

"Really?" Another yawn escapes his mouth. "Well, I guess you can come in now. The sooner we talk, the sooner I get to catch some Zzzz. Oh, what's your name by the way. Can't really have a proper convo without knowing what to call each other.

Embrah pauses before answering.

"Embrah."

"No last name, huh. Well, I'm not complaining." He turns around to reenter his room.

"Ehem."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry."

He looks over his shoulder.

"The name's Qrow. Qrow Branwen. Now hurry in here."

Embrah watches him go into the room and after a few seconds steps in after him.

* * *

 **And that is that. So Embrah meeting Qrow was one of the scenarios that I thought of and it stuck out the most to me, so wonder what they'll talk about next chapter. I'll try to pump it out sooner than later next time. Be patient. See you next time.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Chat with Chance

**Chapter 3: A Chat with Chance**

 **It's time for the talk… nobody wants to hear that ever. But, stuff happens, right?... Anyway, onwards!**

* * *

"So, what do you want to talk about first?" These were the first words that were spoken by Qrow since both Embrah and himself sat down at the table minutes earlier. Embrah sat directly across for him, hands folded on the table with his eyes closed. Not really knowing how to begin in the first place, Embrah just decided to just go with his own obvious question.

"How much do you know about me so far?" he asks, opening his eyes, staring at the gruff man in front of him. Now normally in this kind of situation, one would ask, 'Why have you been following me all this time?' But in this case, the more important question would be how much the person would actually know about you and your background, especially given the fact that they've been following you for the past couple of months and seem to know more than one might believe. If one were to keep a low profile, they wouldn't really want anyone to know anything about their past and even what they're doing in the present.

Qrow leaned back on the chair with his arms folded, staring back at him. "Alright then, pretty good place to begin. Actually, where I wanted to start too, so I'll tell this you this the best way I can summarize. So, no interruptions."

Embrah simply rolls his eyes.

"A couple years back, I was on a mission tasked with protecting a village chief and a small group of his people who were traveling from their village on the far western side of Sanus towards the kingdom of Vacuo to do trade. We had to go on foot since the chief was the type a guy who wasn't much a fan of modern tech, no matter how useful it may be, more along the lines of keeping things old-fashioned. At the same time, I had an encounter with someone who was appointed as a bodyguard to the same mission I was currently on, but for different reasons, as you might already know what I'm talking about, given the fact that it's pretty much the same with all the requests you guys receive, though I didn't know at the time of meeting and departure."

Embrah nodded before Qrow continued.

"At first, I didn't give this guy a second glance since it was pretty common for multiple Huntsmen to be working the same job every now and then, no matter how well-known, good or bad, they are. But there was something about him that didn't feel like the type of vibe a Huntsmen would normally give off, or at the very least, one who hasn't really gotten a good taste of unruly activities one would consider illegal. So, I kept an eye out on both my employer and my new "friend."

"Jump forward six days later, after traversing past most of the hazardous desert terrain and dealing with the Grimm along the way, causing us to almost lose some people, we finally stopped by an outpost near the kingdom and got a couple rooms for the night. I was in my room when I heard a commotion inside the room where the chief was. I rushed inside in time to see what happened. The other guard was standing a few feet across from the chief with, from what I can remember, a pair of Parang Machetes in his hands. He turned towards me and quickly went in to attack where the chief was. I intercepted him at the last second and fought with him for a good while.

"I'm gonna tell you this right now, I've been in a lot of fights in my lifetime and they've all had their ups and downs, especially in my starting years as a real Huntsman. But the fight with him was one I couldn't bring myself to forget," Qrow narrows his eyes at the memory of it. "We went at it until we were both almost out of breath, cuts and bruises all over our bodies. It was one of the most hard-fought battles I've ever been in. But the result of the fight was what helped made me be more prepared and more cautious in my future expeditions."

Qrow gets up and walks over to his bed where is dress shirt was laid on, heading to the desk next to it, grabbing hold of the flask that was on top and took a quick swig. A large weapon, most likely a sword from its unique design, leaned against the wall on his left.

All the while, Embrah was wracking his brain on this matter. ' _Someone who uses dual machetes as a weapon. I can't really think of anyone who uses one, let alone two. And out of the four of us, I know for a fact that Jason doesn't use any weapons. As for the other two, around that time they weren't really interested in the business...'_

He looked up to see Qrow walking back and sitting down, flask in hand with the other one in his pocket.

"When I thought that I was steadily pushing him back to make a retreat, he did something that I couldn't understand at the time, hell even now I don't know what he really did. But at one moment, I was about to strike once more when behind me there was a yell and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. I looked back in shock, expecting to see the chief on the floor, over a pool in his blood. But the chief was fine, untouched even, but he was clearly distraught as he was kneeling over someone. Someone I didn't think would be of any real importance back then. His son.

"The kid was only nineteen, just a few years younger than me, and wasn't interested in becoming the next chief, planning on leaving the village in the next couple of months to other kingdoms to expand his mind and indulge in different cultures, in his own words. It was something most would respect and even I thought that was a good life choice for the kid, yet, not even wanting to be a part of the entire village business, he was the one to suffer the consequences for just being a part of it. That didn't sit well with me at all. So, I looked back at the attacker to see him with one foot already on the windowsill ready for a retreat. Obviously pissed off, I rushed him at full force and tried to strike him down right then and there. But before I could even take a swing at him, all of a sudden, my body felt sluggish and weak, causing me of not being able to hold my weapon properly, it kissing the floor with me struggling to pick it back up. All the while with me staring at him, not being able to look away and seeing him staring right into my eyes, his face showing an expression I wouldn't expect to see on someone who just killed moments ago."

Qrow glances at the ceiling, a far-off look on his face. "The look of sympathy. He then leaped out the window, taking his leave and with me finally able to move freely. But by the time I ran over to look outside, the guy was nowhere to be found, not a single trace or any signs to let me know where he went. Although he did leave something behind."

He then pulls something out of his pocket and tosses over to Embrah, who catches it looking down at the small object with instant recognition appearing on his face. It was a little worn out with some dents and the familiar sight of rust from slight corrosion, but it was still intact to be recognizable to anyone affiliated with it. A trinket made of wood, though seemingly coated in a type of metal in the color of silver, similar to that of a coin, with the image of a severed serpents' head with a sword plunged through its skull from the neck, protruding at the top. The symbol of corruption and retribution. The symbol of his clan.

That surprised him seeing the symbol that was printed on it. And it both confused and intrigued him. Looking up, Embrah sees Qrow yawning before taking more swig. "You know, that was the first time I've made such a major mistake in my career and it wouldn't be the last. But I was thankful for that encounter, regardless of the outcome of it. I was too naïve and probably would've made a mistake later on that may cost me much more than the lives of civilians I'm supposed to be protecting. So, although the outcome was less to be desired by everyone still there, there was something to be learned. To never limit your observations and assume the expected, to dive into the unexpected and work your way around it, no matter how you do so." Qrow yawns once more.

Embrah takes this opportunity to interrupt the grizzled Huntsman. "This still doesn't explain how you knew about where I came from. And why you would spend five whole months following me."

"Yeah yeah, I was getting to that part. Now, for the five-month thing, you really think I spent every waking second following you around. Please, I got a life too, you know. I'm called away sometimes to do something, but I always find my way back to you. And as for why I decided to follow, at the beginning I had finished doing some work for an old friend of mine in Mistral, when I felt something I haven't felt in a good long time, a presence I thought I'd never experience again. So, through searching the area, the feeling leads me towards the bullhead docks and that's when I saw you. I was instantly cautious of you and thought of trying to see if you would do anything within the vicinity that would lead to me actually stepping in. But, when I got a bit closer to you, the feeling you were giving off was similar to the guy back then, just not in a way where it's a cause for concern. It felt stressed and unnatural on you. Plus, the way you were interacting with people through me off. The next part is when I took it upon myself to follow you and watch your interactions with others to see what it is your trying to accomplish."

"So," he leans in, both arms on the table, "I answered your question, kid."

Twitch…

"Now I'm hoping you'll do the same for me out with answering some questions I've had on my mind for the past three months. With you moving from place to place, going from one kingdom, or at least near one, to another, I decided to just come clean and try to have a conversation with you today, to my surprise that you knew of my following you. So, what the hell are you even trying to do? Or at the very least, what are you trying to look for?"

The question that was directed towards the young man was something he himself has thought of for many years prior. But even with all that time, he hasn't found an answer to his problem for the longest. Always feeling that he should be doing something else other than what he was expected to do, not out of rebellion or unappreciation, but from a feeling of doubt that has crossed his mind and heart many times over.

He looks at the man with a small smile and says, "That's what I'm trying to find out myself."

With an arched brow, Qrow just sat there, contemplating what he said for a good couple minutes staring at Embrah before sighing and, strangely enough, started to chuckle.

"So, you really can smile honestly, as the few times I've been close enough to see that most of them were fake. With exceptions from a few times, like from that village a couple weeks back."

Embrah blinked in surprise at the statement, before nervously scratching his cheek in embarrassment. "I thought I was pretty good at doing so, guess I need more practice."

"Now as for the whole trying to find something, I won't question you about it. One, because it seems like whatever your pal way back when was doing, you don't really fancy it all that much," Embrah stares in surprise at the comment. "And two, you don't seem like that bad of a guy, despite the fact of your clan's business."

"Yes, you can say that both of those and a couple of others is true." Embrah nodded at this.

"But there is one thing that I really wanted to ask you. The past five months, you've been moving constantly and not once have I seen you go to someplace that would look like a home, or at the very least, someplace you would stay at for an extended period. Now you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but how long have you really been out here, wandering from place to place?"

"No, it's fine. I've actually been traveling around for about two and a half years now."

"Two years? Never would've thought you were out there for that long, especially for someone of your age. But, considering where you originated from, it's not that surprising. You must have been trained well to be able to fight Grimm on an almost daily basis."

"Amongst other things, yeah. I had a great teacher. Best I could ask for. Though I never really thought about my skill-set much on a personal standpoint."

Embrah moves to give back the wooden object but was stopped by a hand. Shaking his head, Qrow pushes his hand back towards him. "I don't need it anymore. The only reason I still had it was to see if I could find someone who at least had knowledge of the clan you two were from. This is better since I got someone from said clan sitting right across from me."

Getting a nod in return, Qrow watches as he puts it away in his own pocket. "Now, regarding the whole following you, as of now consider yourself a free man from my eyes. But about your little journey of finding one's self or whatever it is your trying to do, I can at least lighten that load for you."

Confusion twisted his face as Embrah stares at him.

"What I mean by that is, I got an old friend who might be able to help direct you to a path you can go on. Whether you wanna or not is up to you."

"...Who's this friend you're talking about?" Embrah asks.

"Wonder if you've ever heard of Professor Ozpin?"

"Of course, Headmaster of the prestigious Beacon Academy and world-renowned Huntsman, well respected throughout the Kingdoms and the Huntsmen community... don't tell me he's your " _old friend."_ You could just feel the air quotations directed at that statement.

"You got that right," Qrow chuckles at the disbelief on his face. "It may not seem like it, but I like to think of myself as his best friend that he can't live without... just don't tell him I said that. Anyway, I could ask him to help you with this, he's pretty wise to this kind of stuff, lemme tell ya, I've had a couple refresher courses from him at times."

Embrah smiles at the proposition. "I appreciate the offer, but..."

"Look, kid," Qrow cuts him off before he could finish. "You can't keep this up, moving from one place to another all your life. It's been two years since you started this thing, and yet you still have no idea what to do. You could at least try to see what an outside opinion can do for you. It wouldn't hurt to try it. And I trust Oz enough that he might be able to help you."

Although he isn't one to just accept anything from people as he, most of the time, didn't need advice or any gesture of help, he can see what Qrow was saying. During his time on the road, Embrah learned many things from different people and cultures on Remnant, from the barren landscape and, let's just say "lively" people of Vacuo to the beautiful mountains and vast plateaus of the continent Anima. But not once had he had any possible idea as to what to do with himself. And has on occasion thought that this course of action was getting him nowhere, with no clear knowledge of his self-worth in what to do within the concept of society or in any other place of acceptance, bar his previous dwelling.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to see a different route for me by someone else who is more experienced, in more than one case." Embrah sees that this might be a step in the right direction in his search of finding himself and maybe might lead to his own personal problems being mended, at least for a time.

"Well, good to know you have some brain cells left working in that overused head of yours," Qrow smirks at this and goes on to get up from his seat and cross over towards the door. "I'll give you the details about your departure tomorrow. Right now, I want me my sleep time and I lost pretty much almost an hours' worth of it talking to ya. So, if you don't mind kid, I'd like my deserved rest before the might of morning strikes me down with a purpose."

Embrah walks over to the open door to go over to his room, though not before giving Qrow a quick scowl. "How come you just keep calling kid? You know my name. Plus, it annoys me."

"When you're able to get one up on me, I might learn to try to most times. Don't count on it though. Now, if ya don't mind..." Smirking, he pushes the young man out the door before shutting it, but not before Embrah to hear mumbling about the sweet sensation of a worn-out bed.

Shaking his head in annoyance and slight amusement, he pulls out the wooden coin in his pocket, staring at it to verify the owner of the piece. Wisps of aura are seen flowing out and around it through his eyes, becoming visible within the color spectrum as it begins to become perceivable. He blinks in surprise at the deep black and violet color from the piece. _'Now this is VERY surprising. It was a wonder why he had to get a new one. But, why give it to Qrow? Or in any case, why give it to an outsider at all?'_ Knowing contemplating about this would take all night and not really do him any good, Embrah pocketed the piece back in his pocket and open the door to is room to rest and await the morning.

/-/

"So, this is Beacon huh? It's freaking huge," Embrah whistles at the sheer magnificence of the school as he stands in the main avenue after departing off the airship he took right after his arrival to Vale just that morning. "Now, Qrow said that to just look for the building that's the tallest one here. Ugh, why couldn't he just tell me where the thing was specifically? That drunk."

Hefting his bag to a more comfortable position on his shoulder, he starts walking through the school, watching many students roam about, talking about everyday things like classes and gossip to seeing some in what he can assume to be their combat outfits with their weapons out in the open, letting him know that they must be going to train at one of the training rooms that Beacon most likely has a few of. His short trek takes him towards what can be assumed to be the dining hall. Within the large windows on the side of the building, inside can be seen tables lined up next to each other with students occupying some.

Going past it, a couple of buildings are seen with students going in and out from there. ' _Those must be the dorms.'_ The exterior of the buildings has a different color scheme from the majority of the academy, but the same to each other.

Turning the corner into the courtyard, he sees a statue of two figures, a man and woman, both garbed in armor and robes with hoods, displaying their weapons on top of a rock; below them was a lone Grimm, a Beowulf, which, interestingly enough, wasn't attacking or trying to climb up to their position, rather facing in the same direction of the male. _'That's an interesting detail to have.'_ Making a mental note to ask about it later, Embrah returns to his search of Beacon Tower.

"Now, if I was a conspicuous, towering building, where would I be put? I might be right in the middle. Architects seem to enjoy doing that kind of stuff a lo-"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He was cut short from his mid self-dialog when he heard a yell from behind him. He turns around to see a young man with light-brown hair in black clothing and grey armor bumping past him in a frantic run. Before he could think or say anything in response, he hears another yell behind him and turns to face who else it was, only to see a fist flying straight for his face.

Now, in any other circumstance, Embrah would have reacted like any other sane person with proper training in his field of expertise would do and counter the incoming threat and deliver his own attack or defend in response, but at that moment he was distracted by the face connected to the arm, more specifically, the eyes of the person.

Burning red eyes guided his attention away from the imminent assault he was about to receive, triggering him to remember something similar about the sharing of irises, before realizing his current situation and quickly reacting to his immediate problem, just before his was finally struck in his face and sent flying back, crashing through a wall about twenty feet from his previous position.

The one who punched him was huffing in irritation for a moment, wild blonde hair obscuring half of their face as they assumed that the intended target they were after was promptly laid flat a couple of feet near them, but after a few seconds to calm down from the anger high, they soon realize their mistake. As did their company.

"Yang! What have you done?!" A short girl in red came running up next to her, a panicked expression present on her face. "Oh, I asked you to just leave it alone, you didn't have to go after him. And now you punched someone else!"

The blonde brawler responsible is in a state of panic, as brief eye contact with the person who is currently under a now destroyed wall told her that he was, understandably, not prepared for the sudden impact and could very well be extremely hurt.

"You dolts!" A girl in a white dress with equally white hair rushes past the both of them towards the person under the rubble. "We need to help him. Now, hurry up you three!"

Both Yang and the girl in red quickly ran after the girl in white, along beside them was a girl in black who suddenly appeared next to them, all of them picking up the pace towards the mess. But in mid-run, the girl in red stopped, noticing something behind her on the ground.

At the site, the girl in white was trying to lift up the large pile of stone wall off the young man with help from her glyphs, being very careful doing so. But before she could get very far in her work, an arm busted through the rubble and began to push downwards to break free the rest of the body trapped beneath. The head was seen first as he spits and coughed out pieces and rock and dust out his mouth.

"Well, that wasn't what I expected to happen the first day I'm here," *Crack* "Damn, I'm gonna have to practice next time something like this happens. Note to self, relieve stiff neck. Preferably by a masseuse." Embrah sighs as he dusts himself off to try and look more presentable as he was before. _'Luckily I was able to react in time for a defense. Ugh, but that was a pretty strong straight, made me use close to about 41% of my aura.'_

Looking up, though not by much, he sees that there was a girl standing there before him, light blue eyes staring back at his own steel blue, blinking in surprise. _'Huh, a Schnee, that's surprising. Didn't think the heiress of the company would be here.'_

"Uh… hello." Embrah brings a hand up to wave, trying to start a conversation with the girl in front of him.

The girl quickly shakes the shock and surprise away and looks back at him with slight worry on her face. She was about to ask about his current well-being, just around the time Yang decided to make herself know by barreling past her and going up to the accidentally assaulted victim, the girl in black coming up from behind and standing next to the girl in white, who looked irritated at the blonde in front of her.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean to hit you, honestly. You were in the way of someone else I was chasing and I couldn't stop myself in time and..."

Embrah was half paying attention to her apologetic spiel, noticing that her eyes were not the color he thought he had previously seen, as instead of an intense, raging inferno, in their place were a set of bright lilac eyes, filled with concern. Which made him pay attention to what she was saying and quickly thought of a response.

"It's alright, I'm fine," He holds his hands up in confirmation of his words. "It honestly doesn't hurt as much as it should have."

Ignoring his words, Yang walked over to him, gripping his head in her hands and started to move his head around, looking for any damage that she must've caused, all the while he just lets her.

"Yang, don't be rude and just grab him like that," the girl in white said, taking Yang's hands away from the man. "I must apologize for my teammate. She knows or should know, better than to fight outside the training rooms. Even if certain circumstances make it difficult to do so properly, you shouldn't go about breaking such rules. Isn't that right, Yang?" She eyes Yang off to the side, giving off a feeling of dissatisfaction and vexation towards the brawler, making her in turn roll her own eyes at the icy glare.

"Ugh Weiss, you know what Cardin said to Ruby, and you know I wouldn't just sit down and take it lightly. And, I've already said sorry and was checking him for injuries. Though I'm still gonna go for him later." The last part she whispered to herself.

"Uh, girls, I..."

"That doesn't excuse your destructive behavior on this situation. You got riled up over something that shouldn't have done so, as you know the reaction that degenerate was trying to go for. You should be smarter than this, or at the very least, understand common sense."

"Well, excuse me Ice Queen, not everyone can be as composed or uptight as you can be," Yang rolls her eyes in annoyance. "Would actually do you some good to loosen up a bit. I thought my positive attitude would break that mold you got."

"Well, the only thing your "positive attitude" has done is infuriate me to my core."

"That's a sign that it's working," Yang smirks and sticks out her tongue at the heiress.

"Uh…."

"Don't waste your breath. They'll go like this for a little bit." Turning his head towards the direction of the voice, he sees a dark-haired girl with a black bow perched on top of her head. She walks up in front of him looking at the verbal fight going on, arms crossed under her breasts.

"It's just something they do. Happens pretty much every other day. It's better to just sit back and enjoy the show."

Embrah sighs and scratches his head at the explanation. "Well, I know what that feels and looks like. A little bit too well for my liking. Though I didn't expect that my first day visiting here to be like this."

"You're not a student here?" The dark-haired girl turned to him for confirmation.

He shakes his head in response. "No, I even got here around 10 minutes ago. You can bet I was surprised to be greeted with a face stuffed full of fist. That was… Oh!"

He slaps his forehead in realization. He looks at the girl who in turn looks back, amber eyes watching him confused.

"Do you know where the Beacon Tower is? I was supposed to go there today but due to some failed instructions from an irritable informant, I don't know where it is."

"Well, the tower is just past this courtyard over to the back of the school by the cliffs." She points in the referred direction, the path leading to the back end of the courtyard. "Just follow that path around and then take a left. You'll see it on your right after a minute."

"Oh great, thank you for that, uh…"

"You can call me Blake."

"Blake," Walking in front of her, he bows his head. "Thank you for your assistance in helping me find the tower."

Blake stares at him with a bit of blush on her face. "Uh, it's no problem."

He looks at her smiling. "I owe you one. Whatever it is." Jogging over to the directed path, he turns his head back to her. "My name's Embrah and please tell the blonde girl that I'm really fine, I'm not holding any grudges on that, honestly."

Blake nods her head with a small smile. "She'll be happy to hear that."

With a wave, Embrah walks along to his destination.

Blake watches him go before focusing her attention on her friends still in verbal combat, which interestingly enough had Yang's arm around Weiss's shoulders with a shit-eating grin and with the heiress looking away from her, an irritated look on her face accompanied with a deep blush.

"Come on Weiss-cream, it wouldn't hurt to loosen up a bit. And I bet a certain guandao wielding, blue-haired flirt would be happier to see this side of you too," She wiggles her eyebrows with mirth. "As well as another side. One hidden under the false façade that is your upbringing, as you take him by the shirt pinning him against the wall, as your steamy breath just inches away from his-" Yang laughs and moves to avoid a smack from the fuming heiress, wide-eyed and still red in the face from the teasing the brawler dished out.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Xiao Long! I swear I don't know why or how I can put up with you."

"I have no idea, but I commend your patience with me. You're almost on the level that Ruby has."

Weiss crosses her arms. "That's very concerning. Speaking of whom, where is she?"

As if called upon by the heavens themselves, the cloak wearing reaper appeared behind the three huntresses.

"Hey guys," Turning to see her, they are met with the sight of the girl hefting up a large duffel bag walking towards them. "I think we might have a bit of a problem."

Yang walked up and took the bag from her, the heavy weight of it surprising her as she slightly had to adjust the bag in her arms. "Where did you find this, Ruby?"

"I think it belongs to that guy you punched."

Yang's eyes went wide and started to look around the area for any sign of him. "Oh crap, I forgot about him. Where'd he go?"

"He went to Beacon Tower," Blake said as she came up beside Yang. "And he said not to worry about the whole punching him in the face thing. He's fine from what I could see."

"That's not the reason I want to talk to him now. I mean, that too, but not only that. I want to know how he did it."

"Did what?" Ruby asks with obvious confusion.

"The fact that he's still fine after my punch."

"What's the problem with him not being injured from that?" Weiss interjects her own opinion on the matter.

"Him not being injured isn't what I'm bugging over. It's more along the lines of how he was able to stay scratch free after seeing his reaction."

"His reaction?" Blake asks in interest.

"When I was launching my attack at Cardin as he moved away, the first thing I saw was his face and the way he looked at me. It was like he was lost for a couple of seconds before realizing that I was about to punch him. It was clear as day to see he wasn't ready for it. There was no way he could've dodged or put up a block in time and I hit him dead in the middle of his face. And I put about half my full strength into that punch. He was sure to have at least a broken nose from that."

"Now that you mention it, he didn't seem all that phased when he came out of the rubble." Weiss said, arms crossed contemplating on the matter. "More like it was barely an inconvenience to him."

"Whoa, the fact he was able to take a punch from Yang and not be hurt means that he's really strong." Ruby waves her hands excitedly at this information. "I wonder if he'd be a match for me and Crescent Rose."

Yang rolls her eyes at this. "Oh please, I was holding back on that attack. Though I do want to fight him again," A shark-like grin appears on her face. "See what he's really made of."

"Well before the both of you get too excited about it, we still have his bag." The statement from Blake shook the sisters out of their inner thoughts involving the young man with their own little fights and stared at duffel in Yang's arms.

"We should go after him and give it back." Ruby states.

"Yeah, we could," Glinting eyes can be seen on the face of one Xiao Long as she places the bag on the ground. "Or, we could see if nothing got damaged after the whole *ahem* incident."

"Yang, don't you start going through other people's personal possessions. You're better than that." Weiss huffs in disappointment at the brawler's actions.

"Weiss, be honest. You know I'm not."

Weiss starts to argue on that statement before stopping and just shakes her head. "You're horrible. Don't involve me in your hooligan acts."

"But I really am worried that something might've broke in here. I just wanna make sure everything's fine and stuff. Honest." Proving her point, Yang holds her right arm in the air with her left behind her back, a sign of sincerity.

"Yang, even though that would maybe a good idea to do, that and I can totally see your fingers crossed," Yang looks away in denial. "Weiss is right. We shouldn't go through people's stuff like that. That's rude." Ruby chides her sister with authority. "We should go find this guy and give the bag back"

"I suggest we do that later," Blake turns to Ruby. "It seems like he might have an appointment with the Headmaster. We wouldn't want to interrupt."

Weiss sighs at this. "If that's the case, then I suggest we wait here until he's done with his meeting. If it takes too long, then we'll just go to a staff member or one of the teachers and let them hold on to it with instructions to see the Headmaster later to return it. We are responsible for him losing it"

"I have no problem with it." Blake says, pulling a book out from... somewhere, reading from a page she bookmarked.

"Alright then, it's decided!" Ruby smiles in approval. "Yang, let's go to the tower and see if we could stay there to wait for..."

She turns to address her sister only to see that no one was there.

...

"She went over there while we were talking." Blake points to a large shrub with a healthy amount of blonde sticking out the side, looking like she's hunched over.

"Yang!" Ruby rushes over to stop her from peering into the bag, tackling her through the shrubbery. "We said no snooping through his stuff." She was about to say more before Yang shoved something up to her face.

"Looky what I found."

In her hands was the katana stored in the bag. Ruby just stares at it. Slowly, the hand of a weapons enthusiast reaches out...

/-/

Walking through the glass doors of the tower, Embrah looked around the floor, only seeing an elevator at the end of the hallway, the only furniture seen were a couple of chairs next to said elevator.

"Ok, this is weird for interior design. Must be a personal preference." He pauses. "Yeah, I don't get it."

"Glad to see someone else thinks so, openly anyway."

Embrah quickly swivels his body to the entrance her just came from to see a woman. She was fairly tall with blonde hair tied in a tight bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, a white long-sleeved top as her upper body attire with cuffs with pleats at her wrists. A black pencil skirt covers her lower body to her knees accompanied with black stockings. On her back loos to be a violet cape ending in a cut flame design. In her right hand is what seems to be riding crop, though Embrah thinks it was just his imagination, with her left pushing up the oval glasses up to her piercing green eyes.

She looks him over. "You must be the one Qrow spoke of earlier. Come along, Headmaster Ozpin has been waiting for you to arrive."

Embrah could only stare as she walks over to the elevator, its doors opening as if waiting for her to approach it. " Come now, young man."

Embrah steadily strides over. _'I didn't even feel her presence entering the building. She's good. I wonder how skilled Ozpin is'_

He steps into the enclosed space with the woman as the doors close them within.

* * *

 **Alright, another chapter out. After this chapter, I may have a schedule for it. Though right now, I'm just glad I'm done with this one. Gotta say, disappointed with myself for how long it took me to write this, mostly due to procrastination. But now, I shall become a better person because of it... maybe. IDK.**


	4. Chapter 4: Unwanted Interest

**Chapter 4: Unwanted Interest**

 **Back at it again with a new chapter! It's been a LONG time since updating a new chapter and I hope that this doesn't happen later on in the future, since college is a lot of work going on (though it probably will). Now, I know this may be a little slowly paced and pretty late again, but worry not! This chapter and definitely the next chapter are where plot will really take form. It should work out in the end, if I don't screw it up... which hopefully is unlikely. Man, I suck at scheduling.**

 **Enjoy people.**

* * *

The elevator doors open up, the air from within the room the two occupants arrived at filling up their space with a chilling, yet appreciated feeling of calm. The room itself was visually appealing to the eyes, both in the color scheme of the different shades of green and brown with gear designs etched into the floor and more so of the movement of all the gears that decorated the walls and ceiling. On both sides of the wall from where they arrived in the elevator, one large semicircle, hollowed out leading up to the edge of the oculus to the floor, which both contain various sizes of gears and cogs as well as on the ceiling, moving in unison to one another for reasons that are unknown.

At the end of the room was a large desk, structurally sound with strong legs in deep black with a curved translucent table top with a light blue hue. Behind the desk was an extremely unique chair one wouldn't necessarily see or find in a local furniture store. The back of the chair similar to that of a spine with the legs also of unique design with small, green circular indents in them. A large window taking up the entire wall with the broad majority view of the academy in all its glory. At the window, looking down at the mentioned view with a mug of presumably coffee in his right hand, was the very man in charge of the academy and the one Embrah was there to discuss his current situation, his silhouette a solid shadow thanks to the sun's rays going against him, filling the room.

The woman walks out the elevator up towards where the man stands. She stops halfway however, as the young man she has been told to meet with and bring to the Headmaster was standing in the space between the elevator and the room.

Embrah himself had started to make his way as well before actually seeing the man he has heard so much about sometimes in his life, with great regard, and what he saw made him hesitate and wary. Around the man through his eyes, Embrah can see how Ozpin is one of the best Huntsmen out there. The very presence of him being in the same room was enough to tell the young man of his stature but was even more so with the way his aura was presented around him. It's like it had a steady flow around his body, moving like the current of a river, smooth and with an abundance of seemingly never-ending experience coming off of him, the green of his aura fitting the atmosphere of his person. Yet at the same time, there was also a flicker of something merged within it. Embrah didn't know what it was and couldn't find out at the moment since mere seconds after, it was gone as fast as it came.

"Young man," The woman says impatiently, snapping him out of his thoughts. "It's quite rude of you to make one wait."

Ozpin turns and walks back into the room where the light reaches just about, his silver hair and sharp looks not helping to determine his actual age range. His eyes trail over Embrah's tense frame, looking him over carefully as he nonchalantly sips from his mug.

"Come now Glynda, it's alright for him to be somewhat cautious. He is standing in one of the most esteemed academies in Remnant and before the Headmaster in charge. It's a natural reaction to feel a bit wary. Truth be told, so am I. It's not every day Qrow calls in and tells us that he's sending a visitor from places unknown to my knowledge at that moment. I'm hoping that you would help explain it more thoroughly than Qrow, or in his case, barely try to do."

Embrah was still a bit heedful about what he saw (or could barely make out of), but nonetheless, he psyched himself up and walked into the room, slowly letting go of the feeling and standing in front of the desk facing the older man. "I was told that coming here would probably help me with my own problem and I've pretty much run out of options at the moment. I'll answer all your questions to the best of my ability."

Ozpin hums and takes another sip from his mug. "I glad to hear that and I hope to learn more about your circumstance, Mr..."

"Embr..." He cut himself short. Up to this point, he's never told anyone else his whole name, even to Balder and the two kits in the village. Always on a first name basis. Him telling others about his given name doesn't mean anything as he has no qualms about saying it, even more so if not more with his surname. But it still is important to keep his name, amongst other personal things confidential, as even though it won't really cause himself much trouble if he keeps a low profile, it may not be the same case as others he has encountered along his travels. As a precaution, he's made sure that there were other individuals with a name that were as similar to his possible, so as to hide in plain view and to not worry about any unwanted encounters – some in more ways than one.

But now, being in the presence of the esteemed Professor Ozpin makes him hesitate on the matter. It shouldn't be like this. He has no problem telling anyone else just his first. But either due to the significance of meeting the man that he has heard so much of in person or the fact that the man has this insoluble feeling to him, Embrah feels that whatever it is, it's going to be a driving point later in the unforeseen future of his troubles.

Embrah blinks after hearing the sound of someone's throat being cleared and looks up to see the man himself looking at him, yet again sipping from the mug with an arched brow, and to the woman who has her arms crossed, a scowl directed towards him, riding crop in hand. He really thought it was just his mind veering off again when he saw that thing.

"Oh! It's Bridger. Embrah Bridger. Sorry about that."

"It's quite alright." Ozpin chuckles watching the young man scratching the back of his head. "As long as we understand the path of this meeting, I'm sure we can up with some sort of solution to your dilemma. Please, have a seat."

Embrah was about to say there wasn't anywhere for him to do so, only for the professor to point to a chair in front of his desk. ' _Pretty sure that wasn't there before.'_ He walks over and sits down on the surprisingly comfortable piece of furniture.

The Headmaster sits in his own chair, setting his mug down and crosses his fingers on the desk with Glynda standing next to him. "Now it may be redundant to say this now, but it's in the form of pleasantries and duty to do so. As you know, my name is Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy and next to me is Professor Goodwitch, assistant Headmistress and combat specialist instructor. We were sent word of your arrival by a field agent of mine, Qrow Branwen, who seems to be interested in you enough to make this meeting happen," Ozpin leans back in his chair, his expression changing from mild-mannered to a man with a gaze that can cut through an Ursa with ease, his attention entirely focused on the young man in front of him. "And I intend to see why is this so."

Embrah, although unfazed by the shift of persona, still sat up straighter to address the man.

"I've been traveling across a good portion of Remnant for around two years now, and now those travels bought me to meeting Qrow - my "stalker" - which then, in turn, bought me here. But the decision to travel wasn't about seeing the sights, but more along the lines of escape."

A small smirk appeared upon Ozpin's face when he heard what Embrah addressed Qrow as since it isn't completely off for his personality, both in the field and out, but it was quickly wiped off when hearing more into the story.

"Now, I'm not saying I was a prisoner or anything like that, but it was for different circumstances. It wasn't something I was really supposed to do, but in that instance, I had no other choice. So..." Embrah stopped once more, still unsure of whether or not to tell the man in front of him about his previous placement or how he would react.

"Mr. Bridger," Ozpin leans forward, placing his elbows on the desk with his hands folded. "I've been told by Qrow that what you will tell me would be something I'd consider of great interest – it's one of the reasons I agreed to this meeting – but if it is one that you are unable to reveal for any reason, there is no need for you to do so. I won't force your hand in any way."

Now, this complicates things even more. Embrah has learned from both training and personal experience that when hearing one say that they would be letting certain pieces of information go is a plethora of unwanted, and at most times morbid, events that can occur in ways no one could even begin to comprehend. Keeping information from people, especially when they are in a position of power, is a sure-fire way of causing massive amounts of damage in many degrees, from physical and mental harm to the body, though not necessarily to the one withholding, but more to the people connected to them to financially destroying businesses to the point of certain bankruptcy. Being cautious in revealing information of any kind is something that has been drilled into him to being hazardous yet crucial, barring his own name.

But now, he doesn't have any other options other than receiving the opinion from this well-known individual who may or may not make his situation take a turn for the better. It would also come across as rude and a major waste of time for both parties, as he shouldn't do this to the professor. But if and when he needs to and when it comes to the point of regret...

A breath. Another.

"I was a member of the Yōsuru Clan."

In less than a second, Embrah immediately found himself being pinned against the far wall beside the elevator, his eyes having Ozpin still in sight through his peripherals, as most of his attention was directed at Goodwitch, her hand gripping the riding crop that was covered in a violet glow pointed directly at him and a fierce glare boring onto him. He did not try to move, as attempting to do so would most likely end up with him in a more unwanted position. Instead, he opts to relax his body as much as he can, despite the crushing force behind the attack.

"I can't believe Qrow would do something as foolish as this," The Headmistress's words biting at the young man, filled with acid. "Of all the asinine, incompetent things he's done in his life, this is by far the worst thing he has successfully done."

"Professor Goodwitch..."

"Ozpin, he sent an _assassin_ to our academy, from one of the worst groups in Remnant no less!" She cuts him off. "There is no reason not send this degenerate killer to the authorities."

"Glynda," This time she stopped and looked at the Headmaster, his eyes concentrated on her own with a calm expression. "I know there are times that the things involving his actions can be questionable at most times, but they all had the means of furthering our sake of keeping the world as safe as possible. If he sent this young man despite knowing of his origin, then I must trust his judgment on this matter."

"But sir..." Glynda bit her lip in frustration, knowing that even though in her experience Ozpin may be more than too lenient with some of the things the drunkard does, but it is a known fact that she herself has made of Qrow pulling through with his expeditions of Remnant, helping stop crimes and assassinations in many regions, preventing future problems to manifest.

Reluctantly, she lowered Embrah to the ground – himself feeling much looser and able to relieve some of the tense pain through stretching – her caution not in the slightest diminished.

"Come now, please take a seat." Ozpin addresses the man once more. "I apologize for my colleague's behavior."

Embrah walks back over and sits down on the chair, seemingly unfazed by what just happened.

"Now I don't condone just attacking my guests based on background and occupation nor do I expect my colleagues to do any sort of aggression towards them as well. However, while I don't want to express the need to act in any way that may cause any conflict, I would have to agree with Professor Goodwitch's reaction and must be cautious as well for the well-being of both the academy and its occupants."

Embrah tenses in his seat hearing this but makes no move, Ozpin making note of this.

"As she stated, any encounter with any criminal must be met with the intention of capture and detain. However, I will still listen to whatever this meeting is heading towards for the sake of trust I have for my operative. Now, will you continue with the discussion and hope that whatever you say in the next moments would be beneficial to yourself as well as to my own. I wouldn't want this to end in an unfortunate conclusion."

The tension was one of familiarity to Embrah – oddly nostalgic – that made the next words he says to be thought out thoroughly and spoken with complete honesty. ' _Hopefully, they won't think too bad of me.'_ Embrah thought, the stares of both the other occupants in the room making his confidence waver just slightly, mostly from the stern Headmistress. ' _…Or hopefully, Ozpin wouldn't.'_

/-/

The evening glow of the sun setting on the academy leaves a subtle mellow ambiance in the air, the time when students head over to their dorms and await the next day of classes, ready to drive through lectures and combat. Although many were getting ready to call in for the day, two individuals were positioned across from Beacon Tower, sitting or leaning against the wall of a building, one holding a duffel bag attentively while the other was fiddling with a strand of her golden hair, occasionally sighing and glancing at the tower.

"You know Rubes, I'm all up for waiting with my baby sis to give this guy his stuff back since it's our fault that it's like this and he's not bad looking either, but you know we could just give them to a staff member to give to him for us instead of us waiting for like, two hours. I'm surprised that I'm waiting as long as I have been doing now. It's a new record for me."

Yang glances down at the younger girl, herself quite worried for her sister since handing over that sword to her hours earlier. As soon as the weapon was given to her, the small girl has been acting strange since then and has opted to stay and wait until Embrah showed up, the name thankfully mentioned to them by Blake as to not just address him as 'the dude I punched/who got punched', and not wanting her to do so alone Yang stayed with her. But the atmosphere around her made the whole thing unusually uncomfortable.

"You know," Yang started. "You've been pretty quiet and that's actually weirding me out that you're like this. Are you ok?"

Ruby blinks and looks up at her, a smile on her face. "Oh, sorry. I'm fine. Just kinda thinking about something."

"Oh, well… you mind telling me?" Yang shifts down to a sitting position next to her. "I'm not gonna pry or anything if you don't want to, but…"

"Oh no! It's alright." Ruby waves her arm, not wanting to suggest that she didn't want any interaction. "I've just been having this feeling of… something. I don't know for sure but it felt uneasy."

"When you held the sword?"

"Yeah," Their attention directed towards the duffel in Ruby's arms, the object in question residing within. "It's just been on my mind ever since and I can't stop thinking about it. I just have this antsy feeling about it."

She sighed, knowing that this feeling won't be gone within a matter of hours or days on its own. Herself a person who has a fruitful passion for mechanical weaponry and who always take the time to inspect any weapon she could get her hands on, whether it was to make improvements to ones like her Crescent Rose and to anyone who were willing to let her or to see and fawn over others' weapons – which still includes her own, sometimes in a way to where many would call it a "borderline strange yet healthy obsession" for her future line of work as a Huntress.

But it was because of the overexposure to so many over the years that Ruby was able to not only know how mecha-shift weapons with all their individual parts work but also know how each weapon, in her own terms "share the connection with their owner." She was repeatedly teased about this by her sister many times over, who sometimes stated that she would one day find ways to have both owner and weapon make sweet, oily copulation with each other, whatever that meant.

In this case, when she had in sword in her hands, she felt something within the weapon that made her feel uneasy, like it had some sort of pull about it. Not something that affected her but just enough that she noticed it. And it made it seem like it wanted something as well, and it made her feel slightly nauseous, enough that she immediately put the weapon back in the bag before her sister could try to "inspect for damage" and decided to wait for the owner. Maybe it was because it wasn't her own or if it was something she couldn't understand at time of it happening, but it didn't really try _doing_ anything with her. And this also has her attention on the one who possesses ownership of the sword, although she isn't one to try and pry her way into things. That's Yang's specialty.

Nevertheless, it confused her and made her wonder more than it should have, and she knows it.

"It just didn't feel right and I don't think I'd want to do anything that might, I don't know, mess something up with it." She sighs looking down at the bag containing the weapon.

"Well, not that I can understand how it is with drooling over gears and motors, but you know that I'll be here if you need me. Always will be." Yang threw her arm around her, causing a giggle to escape her lips.

"Thanks, Yang," Ruby blinks. "Hey! I don't drool over them!"

"You keep telling yourself that little sis." Yang laughs, ruffling her hair earning a very cute pout in return.

The sound of doors opening brought the two sisters' attention to the tower they were staking out. Embrah walks out into the open air, moving his head in a sweeping motion as if looking for something. He then immediately turns over to their location, a look of recognition on his face when he sees them or one of them at least.

"Ah, finally he shows himself," Yang stands to stretch with Ruby in tow, herself watching him heading towards them. "Took him long enough. I'm about ready to catch some Zzz right now."

"Yang, you could've been doing that this entire time while we were waiting."

"And miss re-meeting this guy to find out how he was able to brush off my strike like it was nothing? Not today."

"I knew that was the real reason you stuck around!" Ruby exclaimed in a huff.

"Hey, that's not true! I stayed cause I couldn't leave my cute little sister alone."

"I'm not little! I'm growing bigger you know since I drin-"

"Yeah, I know. You drink milk. You know it's not gonna help with everything. If anything, you should eat more in variety than just eating cookies all the time. Then you'd be able to grow like me, or close enough."

"Well I hope your ready cause in a couple of years, I'll surpass you and you'll forfeit victory!"

Yang crosses her arms in amusement at the prospect of her losing at anything to Ruby, especially in the body department. That won't happen anytime soon.

"You can keep dreaming on that fact." She chuckles, patting her head.

Ruby growls, wiggling out from underneath the hand and giving her a defiant look. "Just you wait Yang Xiao Long. One day I will have you beat and it will be glorious!"

"Challenge accepted Ruby Rose!" Yang replied, both staring each other down.

"Ahem."

Both sisters jump in surprise and look over to the young man they were waiting for, who was standing in mirth at the conversation he was witnessing.

"Wasn't expecting to see this when trying to find my bag, though not at all unpleased with the entertainment that was provided."

Ruby stands there in embarrassment and tried to hide behind her sister, who herself was trying to hold back a smile at the attempt.

"I see a familiar face who had a nice connection of my own face with their fist," Now it was Yang's turn to blush in embarrassment at the mention of her actions that happened hours before. "Plus, one I haven't seen before. May I ask these individuals for their titles, if that's no issue?"

Hearing to be addressed upon, Ruby immediately appeared behind her sisters' back and stood in front of him. "Sorry about that. Name's Ruby, first-year and leader of team RWBY. And before you say anything, yes, it is a bit confusing at times. And this here is Yang. She's also part of the team. And the other two that you probably met before are as well."

"Leader?" Embrah asks.

"Yup!" Yang links her arm around Ruby's shoulders with a grin on her face. "Only 15 and she's already breaking records as the youngest to attend and lead a team at Beacon. I couldn't be prouder."

"Anyway," Ruby breaks off from under the hold once again and walks up to him with his bag in her arms. "I think this is yours. You kinda left back at the courtyard when you were, uh, busy with other things."

"Thank you for that," He reaches down and receives back his duffel from its previous holder. "I would be in a pretty bad spot if I'd lost anything in here."

"It's no problem, Embrah. It's our fault you lost it in the first place. Just doing what's right." Ruby replied meekly, more along the lines that her team, or a member, caused this problem.

She was totally going to chew Yang out on this one later.

"Mm," Embrah rests his bag over his shoulder looking at the both of them. "Don't remember telling either of you my name before."

"Oh, we got it from one of our teammates. You know the one with the black hair, right?" Yang spoke up for the explanation.

"Ah, you mean Blake. Yes, I remember her. She seems like a good person." He says with a smile.

"Ha, of course! Best partner a gal can have," Yang leans in with an impish-like smirk. "Keep an open mind if you're interested though, as there might be someone out there to see just what you're made of."

Embrah tilts his head in confusion. "Oh, who and in what way?"

Smirk turning into a grin, Yang walks up to him, crossing her arms and stopping in front of him in a confident stance. "Yours truly and in a fight."

"Fight? For what reason?"

"Because you pretty much brushed off my punch that was supposed to give ya a nice shiner, yet here you are, looking all clean and bruise free… again sorry about that again."

Embrah holds back a chuckle at her apology, even after the fact he had told Blake that it was fine. He bows in front of both sisters, causing both of them to have a similar surprised reaction he had seen previous times before as the most recent was the dark-haired girl that helped him. "I appreciate the thought of a spar with someone as strong as yourself, but I'm afraid that I must decline your offer. I don't really have the time at the moment nor do I think it'll be wise for me to do so now of all times. But I will still like to thank you for bringing me my bag to me. One day, I will give you that spar, I can promise you that."

Yang hums at the gesture of basically denying her a fight but didn't say much more of it since while she is known for messing with people she just met, he's still someone that she's just met that day. So right now, she'll accept the thought of their fight for another time.

"That's all fine and dandy, Em. I'm a girl who can wait."

"Em?" He raises his head at his abruptly given nickname.

"Yeah well, your name isn't really one that's common," Ruby nods in agreement to that. "So, I called you in something I'll be able to get used to."

"Huh." Embrah thinks it over and decides that for now, it's something that she can get by with saying. "It's fine of you to want to call me that, though I would appreciate it if you'd change it to something else if you get the chance to."

Yang laughs. "Don't worry about that. I'm pretty good at getting that right name for the person."

"I'll hold you on to that. You might have the chance to give me another and maybe get a true fight with me. Though the way that it's been done is just…" Embrah sighs in frustration with his implications of further interactions.

"Uh, what do you mean? Is there something wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Well, no but…"

"He doesn't have the time to address his current state at this time, Miss Rose."

Embrah sighs as both sisters look past him to see Glynda walking towards them with a scroll in hand.

"As right now our _guest_ has somewhere else to be." She spoke with clear disdain, confusing them. "Come now, Mr. Bridger. We still have matters to attend to." She turns and walks away from them, heels clicking along the ground at a rapid pace.

"I believe I should stay right near her less I unleash her wrath on me." Embrah adjusts the strap on his shoulder and turns to follow Glynda. "I may see you both sooner than later, I suppose. Until then, I've enjoyed our conversation."

Ruby smiles and waves. "Guess we'll see you."

"Yeah, and don't get any ideas on thinking of finding a way to avoid your beatdown." Yang warns, a smile on her face that shows no ill will.

He waves his hand at them and jogged to catch up to the professor.

"Now that that's over, it's time to get some well-deserved sleep." Yang stretches her arms behind her back. "The weekend flew by way too fast for me."

"Oh shoot, I forgot to ask him about the sword." Ruby facepalms at her mistake, surprising Yang.

"I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with it."

"Well yeah, I don't wanna mess with it, but I still want to know the story behind it. I'm also kinda curious about him too."

Yang wraps her arm around the younger girl, leading her towards the dorms. "Well, maybe you'll have a chance one day to explore your upbringing to a young lady. But for now, let's get some sleep."

Ruby sneers at her, but then holds a smile on her face that breaks Yang's joking and causes suspicion in her. "What's with that look?"

"Oh, I'm just remembering that you might not get to early as you wanted. But I'm sure Weiss will keep you company in lecturing you into the night."

"Ugh. Crap."

Ah, displeasured moaning from the normally teasing blonde bombshell was music to the young reaper's ears.

/-/

Ozpin sits at his desk, his chair turned facing the window looking at the sunset of the day's end, his ever-present mug resting on his desk, untouched after the meeting he had with the young man, who had some very interesting things to say that, on a personal level, Ozpin himself can relate to. Although, it was an even more of a surprise at the mention of his previous position within the clan that made the experienced Huntsman think of some matters he's had in the past, and that maybe he might be able to correct them to an extent. Just didn't think it would one day walk up to his front door.

" _Embrah Bridger. I myself don't have the answer to what you may be after nor do I have the means of truly helping you. But even so, I will try to make it so you won't have to do it all on your own. This may be pushing it a bit considering what you have told us, but I have a proposition that you may think about. I will leave it up to you whether or not you accept it."_ Ozpin thinks back to that conversation and chuckles to himself.

"This may turn out to where it may bite me in the back," He gets up and grabs his mug heading towards the elevators. "But I'll see to it that that won't happen without any precaution. Hopefully, he'll be able to see the better aspect of it."

And with that, and the sound of the doors opening, he enters and heads down.

* * *

 **And there goes another chapter. I apologize for the lack of chapter for the last three months, procrastination is strong in me, but I should be able to get the next one out a bit faster than this one.**

 **With that, I'm out.**


	5. Chapter 5: Next Step

**Chapter 5: Next Step**

 **Hello. How are you? Doing good? Have a good day or night? Hope ya did. Oh, did I have a good day you ask? Well, hehe, doing quite well, thank you very much.**

 ***activates strained laughter that can shatter glass, rupture eardrums and make puppies cry tears of grief from across continents***

 **Doing just fine.**

 **Story time.**

* * *

Blades flashed and collided against each other as two individuals were in the middle of combat. A halberd struck down on the person on the other end of its tip, the wielder himself frustrated with how much he had missed his opponent. Said opponent moved over to the side at incredible speeds, circling the other while firing shots at them.

The halberd moved quickly to block them, stopping every single one, the wielder not noticing the figure behind them until the last moment. They quickly tried to swing their weapon in intercept them, only for his feet to be tripped up, leading him to be slashed at on his mid-section. Aura flared up at the contact, his body flung across the ring, his weapon clattering away from him. He moves to stand, just to have a scythe pointed under his chin. He sees no other way to getting out of this situation. He sighs, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Ruby Rose is the victor of the match." Glynda Goodwitch announces, ending the last of the matches of the day.

"Yeah, great job Ruby!" Yang yells from the sidelines in the crowd, along with friends from their sister team JNPR, the loudest being from one Nora Valkyrie and the leader Jaune Arc.

Ruby retracts her weapon, Crescent Rose, back in the holster on her back, waving back to the crowd at her teammates and friends. Her defeated opponent, Sky Lark, picked himself up with his weapon off the ground, some of his teammates jeering at him from the stands at his defeat, his leader Cardin doing the most.

"Miss Rose, as usual you had a good advantage in speed, although you using your opponent's weight against them took me by surprise with how well you've been adapting your fighting style. However, your overall control of your semblance is still at an intermediate stage at best. You should take the time to focus on managing to maintain a steady speed without having to take any kind of crude stops. All in all, well done."

"Thank you, Professor." Ruby, though understanding of her faults in the fight, beams at her win.

"Now, Mr. Lark, while you have do have a strong offence and relatively good defense over undeniable skill with your halberd, your judgement on the best course of action is less to be desired. You just blatantly charging in and swinging around isn't a move that will work well against a foe of who make be an equal or a better than you. Please do try to have a better understanding on whether or not to try another route of attack. This is a must for anyone who have decided to invest their lives to maintaining balance and to protecting civilians from the creatures of Grimm."

Sky frowns but nods. "Yes, Professor."

Goodwitch turns to the crowd of student sitting the bleachers, addressing them. "With that, the lesson is over. Within the next few months, there will be sparrings revolving around pairs to see how your teamwork with your partners compare to others."

A couple whoops were heard in the crowd at the prospect of the matches to come, with many of them confident in their own teamwork.

"But before you all leave, just a reminder that every student must head towards the amphitheater for an announcement at the appointed time. Be sure to attend. Class dismissed."

And with those last words, everyone started to move, some students immediately leaving for whatever they have planned or just loitering until the announcement. Sky Lark met up with his team and were ones to leave, himself being teased at losing to a "little runt" by mostly Cardin and one of his other teammates Russel, as Dove was just ignoring the horseplay.

Ruby run to where her friends are, receiving a high-five from her sister.

"You did great out there, Rubes. Really showed him who's the boss on that stage. By the way, it's me." Yang teases the young Huntress-in-training.

Ruby pouts, sticking her tongue out at her.

"Ignore her Ruby," Weiss rolls her eyes at the blonde and walks beside her scythe-wielding partner. "You did well against that hooligan."

Blake giving a thumbs up in agreement, most of her attention on an ever-present book on her lap.

"Yeah!" Nora jumps in front of the two arms waving in excitement. "You should become a professional leg breaker. I heard they make a lot of dough."

"Nora, I'm pretty sure that's not a real occupation." Lie Ren, her partner, walks up next to her. "But that was a very impressive win."

"Very. I enjoyed the battle." Pyrrha Nikos, the last member of team JNPR said with a smile on her face.

"Aww shucks," Her face red from the praise from her friends. "Thanks guys. I try my best. I feel like I can pretty much be prepared for the double sparing, no problem."

"Well even if you had a victory today and the mindset to do better in future fights, that doesn't mean that you can slack off on other things, like for example our written assignments on the different sub-species of Grimm due at the end of the week." Weiss chides the younger girl.

Ruby groans at the mention of the assignment that she admittedly hasn't been paying much attention to.

"Yeah well… I mean… Uh…"

"You haven't even started it, have you?"

"Yes, I have," She turns arms folded, not wanting to look at the heiress. "I started the first paragraph and know exactly the types of Grimm in that class. All I need to do is finish the last four paragraphs. So, hah!"

Weiss places a hand on Ruby's shoulder and smiles at her. "Well, I'm impressed that you have the necessary knowledge for the work Ruby and I will apologize for expecting you to not have even started it."

Ruby turns to her, hands on her hips and a grin on her features. "Of course, I'm not the same as I was when we first started the year here."

"And I appreciate that you've taken a more serious approach in class, but," Her grip tightens, making Ruby gulp, looking to see a chilling leer directed at her. "I specifically remember that the assignment was for 35 pages and the fact that we had two weeks to do it and you only doing a single paragraph is simply unacceptable, Rose!"

Ruby's eyes bug out at the new information that she really should have known from the get-go.

"35 pages!? But…"

"And for the rest of the day after the assembly, we will be doing a cram session until you get at least 18 pages completed. Is that understood?"

"But…"

"Is. That. Understood?"

"…Yes Weiss." Ruby gave in to the study session, knowing it would happen to her whether she wanted to or not.

"Now Ruby, Weiss is just looking out for you," Pyrrha inputs, trying to cheer up the young reaper. "If you get it done quickly enough, you won't have to worry about having to do cramming in the future, knowing that this will happen to you every time you don't listen to the whole instruction."

Ruby pouts at the explanation. "I know that."

"Look at it this way Ruby," Weiss waves at their little circle. "You have more than capable friends here to help you with this, as I'm sure that they themselves have done their part on finishing the paper."

She says, though seeing that some of them seem to take interest at the floor or ceiling was all the heiress needed to know about the level of competence some of them have, specifically from a ginger hair and two blondes.

"…Unbelievable. So, it seems like we'll be having a joint cram session. I expect the blonde duo and Valkyrie in the library later as well."

"Wait, why do we have to do it too?" Nora complained to the girl.

"Because Nora, our teams are always together for the most part that we've been here at the academy and I refuse to have people gossip about how both teams aren't up to the standards that's to be expected of this school."

"Aww, Ren help me!"

"Sorry Nora, but I'll have to agree with her on this. Both you and Jaune have been slacking a bit on your work. This will be a good course of action for you two to have."

"Hey, it might not be that bad, we could use the help. We'd appreciate it, Weiss." Jaune spoke up, also in agreement at the proposition of the study sesh.

"Well, at least one of you see the value in this, even if you're a complete dunce." Weiss huffed.

Jaune laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling like having some food in my stomach before anything else." Yang gets up and starts to walk towards the exit, the rest of them deciding to do the same.

While exiting, they started going to their destination, until Yang stayed back, grabbing both Jaune and Nora and started dragging them in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

"Uh, Yang?" Ruby calls out to her sister, seeing her basically kidnaping two of their friends.

"Don't wait up for us. We'll catch up soon."

Ruby stares a bit before shrugging it off and running back to the others.

They turned the corner in another hallway before she let them go.

"Ok guys, we need a game plan and fast if we're gonna survive this." Yang started, pacing in a circle.

"Whoa, what's going on? Why are you worried so much?" Jaune states, confused at the actions of the fellow blonde.

Yang spun on her feet facing him, shaking her head at his naivety.

"Don't you guys get that we're going to be stuck with the Ice Queen for possibly hours awake for this paper?"

"Well, that's typically what one would do when writing a paper this long. Not really seeing the bad side of this."

"The bad side of this Jaune, is that those couple hours are gonna the worst ones in your life, that's a bonafide fact."

"Oh, come on Yang, how bad can it be?"

"Remember two months ago when we had that project on the cycles and patterns of each specific Grimm of this region? When I had to drink coffee for an entire week due to the lack of sleep time for me to the point I was pretty much on par with Professor Oobleck?"

Jaune shivered at the reminder of that week. Yang was a handful the entire time, from trying to fight people so much and causing a LOT of property damage in the wake of it cause of all the energy she was having and was talking so fast that she even gave Oobleck a run for his money.

"Oh yeah, I remember that! That was a fun week." Nora laughs at the memory, bouncing in place, stretching her arms while doing so.

"Yeah, fun isn't the word I would use to describe that experience. I crashed the next few days after. Never had coffee since, and I like coffee. Well, liked."

"Wait, you're telling us that you were like that because you had a cram session with Weiss?"

"One on one time with her, Vomit Boy. And it was hell. She wasn't even affected by any of those all-nighters. And it's probably gonna be the same this time around."

Jaune now had a pale look on his face at the prospect of having to be in the same situation that made Yang go into that caffeinated craze in the first place. He liked Weiss (not at the level of a hopeless romantic like before but more as a good friend), but he would rather have to face a horde of Ursai than having to deal with that.

"Whatever you have planned, I'm in."

"Me too!"

"Great, so we're all on board," Yang nodded with a determined expression, the other two doing the same. "But, I don't really have an idea of how to do so."

"What!?" Jaune exclaimed.

"Which is why I need your help with this Vomit boy. You're pretty good at coming up with plans, or so I've heard from Pyrrha."

"Oh, and she's right. I can testify to that." Nora beams.

Jaune blushes at the sudden praise.

"I'm glad you guys feel that way, but I don't know what to do either. But if something comes up later, at best I might be able to shorten how long we'd be working. Can't promise anything though."

Yang sighs at the suggestion. It may not be much, but she didn't have anything better.

"It's not much of anything, but it's good enough. We should start heading back and meet up with the others."

With a nod, they went on their way, Nora humming to herself along the way.

/-/

Inside the large structure of the amphitheater, students from each year filed in, waiting for the announcement that would soon be told. Many of them group up in their own teams and chatting away while others would just stay along the edges of the room, keeping to themselves and would either stand watching others or staying secluded and not paying any mind to anyone else.

Team RWBY were some of the ones near the front of the stage, waiting with their sister team and passing the time with their own little conversation, or in the case of a specific pair, more like a disagreement.

"I'm telling you, you can't get any better than cookies!"

"And I'm telling you that nothing beats the softness and fluffiness of a pancake!"

"You can eat them perfectly arranged on a plate!"

"You can eat them in a stack!"

People around the small group started to look at the two shortest members of the group having the argument of which of their favorite food reigns supreme over the other, much to the chagrin of one heiress.

"I can't believe they're having this conversation now. And about something so frivolous as which is the better food."

"Well, you had to know that one day this would've come around sooner or later. It was just a matter of time. Ruby wouldn't take it any other way when it comes to cookies. Or strawberries for that matter." Yang said, herself being amused by the two.

"I'm honestly surprised that it took them this long to even bring it up." Ren added, himself ignoring the whole thing and having his own conversation with Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Still, they should be more aware that we're here to hear the words of our Headmaster. It must be an important one, he doesn't really do this kind of thing excluding school events and mission send-offs."

"True, even some of the teachers are here." Blake said off-handedly.

Though by some meaning only Oobleck, Glynda and Professor Port were on top of the stage, themselves waiting for their Headmaster to make his appearance.

"You can't handle the punch of chocolaty goodness! It'll wreck your soul!"

"I can handle anything! Just ask Ren, he'll vouch for me!"

Both girls switched their attention to the green clad gunman, who in turn nods his head to confirm the statement.

"In a lot of ways, I bet." Yang whispered to both Blake and Weiss, both of who had slight blushes on their faces, though for different reasons.

"Enough, you two! Stop having this extraneous squabble and pay attention, Ozpin could be coming on stage soon. So, quit it before I add some extracurricular to our cram session later."

"…Yes, Ma'am." Both girls hung their heads down, causing the heiress a couple of seconds to appreciate the calm before footsteps could be heard on top of the stage.

Students stood straight and directed their attention up to see Ozpin walking up to the podium, a calm demeanor on his face and his cane in hand.

He pans over his students, taking in every single one of them as if looking for something. He then shifts his view to have them all within his vision. Every student at attention, ready for their Headmaster. He clears his throat.

"There are times where I come up onto this stage or walk around the campus and see the next generation of Huntsman and Huntresses-in-training and think in many ways where I have seen improvement in your skills and see where you all are lacking. Though that could be said the same with your predecessors, it still remains that there is still much you all can learn in your mission to one day becoming full-fledged Huntsmen. With the creatures of Grimm running more rampant and criminals popping out of the woodwork, the world is all the more dangerous and maintaining the peace we've all strive to protect is becoming more and more difficult as the days go by. But even so, all of you I have seen have shown me great resolve in being the next protectors of Mankind. So much that to the point of where I've decided to include something extra to be added to the lessons you're all already taking. More of an experiment if you will."

Some students muttered at this new information presented to them, all paying extra close attention now if they weren't before.

"There will be new classes revolving around selected teams that shall be chosen by your instructors for personal teachings available to first and second year students. You all will be given a team instructor who will be in charge of you for the remainder of your time here or until said otherwise. They will be covering your training, request missions for the levels they feel you are at and any other requirements they see fit to enforce regarding your team only as you are their main focus and vice versa. The same rules and regulations apply with your normal lessons and they can decide to continue teaching you as their wards or see that you are suspended from any mission activity until further notice."

"And as for the third and fourth years, you all shall have the opportunity of accompanying pro Huntsmen in the field and having first-hand experience in regard of engaging in Grimm extermination and helping stop criminal activity within the kingdom of Vale and the neighboring kingdoms as well. They will be responsible for you and your progress in the field and they as well can and will decide to send you back if they determine your skills to be less than desirable. Due to this change, your current classes will be cut short, limiting your classroom times and making way for your personal training. On the days where you won't have class, you will be with your instructor, although whether or not they choose to keep it within the five-day week schedule or to extend it into the weekend will be entirely up to them. The pros themselves shall make their decisions on choosing their teams later on within this and in the following week, while for the first and second years, they will have their instructors within the following days, contacted via scroll by an instructor to each team leader. Depending on the effectiveness of this experiment, it may become a permanent change for this academy in the future."

And with that announcement, there was an even louder response from the students, all of them excited for this change.

"I can't believe we're getting this chance to actually learn more about how real Huntsmen do their jobs. This is so exciting!" Ruby exclaims, jumping in place.

"I know, right? We'll be able to do some real damage to the bad guys out there, get less class time and exterminate some Grimm while we're at it." Yang smirks, pounding her fists together.

"It can also be a great learning experience by having one on one times with our instructor." Ren added.

"Which means more fun!" Nora hops on Jaune's back excited, the boy having trouble keeping still and almost falling over.

"And while we are on the subject of having change for this academy," Ozpin continues, causing the students to hear the rest of his speech. "It seems like a good idea to introduce a new face that many of you will be seeing a lot of as well." With those words, he motions behind him, prompting a figure to enter from the back, his presence having the attention of everyone currently there, especially to a certain team.

"Hey… isn't that Embrah?!" Ruby exclaims, shocked at the young man's appearance on stage.

"I think it is." Yang replies, herself equally shocked.

"Wait, that guy you four met a week ago? That's him?" Jaune asks, getting a rest from his ecstatic teammate who finally got off his back.

"Aside from the outfit change, yeah it's definitely him." Yang confirmed. True to what the brawler said, Embrah was wearing a different set of clothing from his traveling set. Save for his gauntlets and boots, he now wore a form-fitting dark grey shirt underneath a black vest with silver trimmings. His cargo pants staying the same but with the color changing from black to a navy blue with silver stitching. He walks up and past the instructors, each responding to him accordingly, with Oobleck nodding his way, Port giving him a thumbs up and Glynda, although subtle, keeping an icy glare on him. "I've wondered where he'd gone this past week. But to find him up there, didn't expect that."

"Oh, maybe he's going to be a student here!" Ruby says.

"That'll be something," Weiss interjects, arms crossed. "I don't think you could just enroll in a school of such high-esteem like Beacon in just a week. That just doesn't happen."

"But, I was enrolled here days before the actual orientation. And I didn't even sign-up for Beacon." Ruby stated, causing Weiss to cough in embarrassment at the fact.

"Well, yours was of a special case. But, we know nothing of him or what he did."

"If he got the attention of Ozpin, he must have some accomplishments worth noticing." Ren said.

"We'll see."

Embrah found his place right beside Ozpin, hands behind his back and stance tall. Steel blue eyes scan the large mass of people, taking in every face he sees, making some students size-up under his seemingly glowing gaze. His notices frantic movement and turned to see a wave in the crowd, the hand belonging to Ruby, a smile on her face. He nodded his head with a ghost of a smile of his own before standing at attention to the man at his left.

"This young man standing beside me is Embrah Bridger. You will all see a lot of him on this campus, especially and exclusively to some of you who will be in a selected team."

Most were confused at the man's words. But in the confusion, one seemed to catch on very quickly, as her amber eyes widened in surprise.

"That couldn't be right." Blake said.

"What do you mean? What is he talking about?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin placed a hand on the Embrah's shoulder. "Say hello to the new Tactics Instructor of Beacon. Please treat him well as you will with any of your other teachers."

Silence filled the room, with not a single student making any movements at the announcement of the new teacher, not because it was in the middle of the year for a new addition of student or teacher, but for it to be a teenager, someone who's supposed to be a Huntsman-in-Training at this time along with them, someone who shouldn't have such a position at all with his current age.

"Whaaaat!?" The sudden sound spoken in the crowd got everyone out of their shock and started talking amongst themselves. Some interested by the fact that someone their age range got a gig like that and wanting to see just how well he is. Others having negative opinions on Embrah, believing he had some connections to be in such a position.

"An Instructor?! How is that even possible?!" Weiss couldn't wrap around the idea of a teenage instructor teaching others his own age about anything when it comes to skill. It just doesn't make sense to her.

"It is quite unprecedented, but maybe we shouldn't judge him on this." Pyrrha suggested to the heiress, herself surprised at the news, but at the same time interested in the young man. He was able to be offered a job at the academy not even being present on grounds longer than a week based on the recent knowledge about him from Blake, not to mention having Ozpin himself take him in. If there was anything Pyrrha knew about having first contact with people, it's that one shouldn't base their abilities on looks alone. She looked over at Blake herself to see how she reacted, seeing that she couldn't tell what she was thinking, the girl having a blank stare.

"Much like the rest of the instructors here, he will choose his own teams he will be in charge of. The same rules apply to him and he can and will deem it necessary to suspend you for any reason he doesn't find acceptable. Be sure to treat him with the respect he will surely treat you with. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand. "Yeah, sir…"

"Excellent! This concludes the announcement. All of you please await further instructions later on and best of luck to you all. Dismissed." And with those last words, Ozpin walks off the stage, following are the instructors and Embrah in tow.

"Ugh, not again." Jaune groans of having his question shot down before he even composes the whole thing. "This the second time this happened. I swear, I think he secretly has it out for me."

"Jaune, I doubt the Headmaster has any qualms with you." Pyrrha says.

"You don't know that."

"Oh, maybe Jaune knows something about the Headmaster that made him act like this." Nora suggests.

"What could I have done to him that I don't know myself?"

"You'd be surprised on how someone can get on someone's watchlist and now knowing, Vomit Boy." Yang interjects. "But right now, I think I need a chat with our new friend and congratulate him on getting a job."

"Well, I hope you could do it before they go into the lounge since that's where I believe that's where they're headed. I myself would like to have a word with him." Weiss says.

"I'm afraid that is something you must do another time, Ms. Schnee."

Oobleck appears behind the group, getting a yelp from Jaune at his sudden appearance.

"As you said, we must be off to the teachers' lounge to discuss the teams that shall be formed by each of us. I suspect you'll be able to have a conversation with young Bridger tomorrow at the latest."

Weiss, displeased at this, looked to voice her argument on talking to him sooner than later, but a hand over her mouth courtesy of Yang stops her from doing so.

"That's fine. We have no problem with that, Professor."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me…"

He starts to speed off towards the lounge, but not before turning to Yang with a stern look.

"Oh, and please remember that it's DR. Oobleck, thank you."

And with that, he takes off, leaving a dust trail along the way.

"Welp, so much for getting any answers out of Em today."

Weiss scrunches up her face as she removes Yang's hand away, fuming at the brawler's action to basically shut her up.

"That was rude of you."

"Yeah, well we can't have you spewing any of the reasons to why you need to. So just wait it out."

"Hmph, well if that's the case, I believe we have some work to do."

Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Nora all visibly slouch at the reminder of their cram session.

"Ugh, do we really need to, Weiss." Ruby pleads.

"Yes Ruby, we do. Unless you have some other reason why we can't go forth with it."

"Actually Weiss, we do."

Eyes turn to Jaune, himself shrinking back from the stares.

Weiss crosses her arms, a scowl on her features. "Oh, and exactly what should we be doing that can make this wait Arc?"

"Well, you see Weiss, since we have this upcoming team selection going on, shouldn't it be best to prepare for who we'll be assigned to." He straightens up. "If we ignore the different instructors and how we'd be in certain situations, we could be vastly unprepared for what could follow. We should focus on this and probably schedule the cramming for another date this week, preferably in two days, or later if our class schedules update and say anything different."

"It's just an option." He quickly adds.

Weiss takes his words in mind and sees some truth within them. It would be problematic if they were to expect one instructor vs getting one they have either no experience having any interaction with or one they just didn't like. _'And this would also give me some time to see if I could find anything about this Bridger. Recommended by Ozpin or a genius in whatever field he's in, I refuse to believe that there isn't something more going on here than just being a sudden hire.'_

"You're right, Arc."

"I am?" He stares at the heiress incredulously.

"He is?" Yang being as surprised at Weiss agreeing to Jaune of all people.

She nods. "Yes, you are. It would be best to do it at a later date. For now, we all should be prepared to expect the unexpected. We don't get to see who picks us until the appointed time and day of our first meeting I'd assume. So, we'll postpone it."

"Yes!" Yang and Ruby shared a hive-five, then immediately ran out of the amphitheater.

"Those two are going to have extra work for that."

"I'm sure they expect it for doing that." Blake started walking after them at a more reasonable pace. "They might as well enjoy the short freedom they have."

Weiss sighs, not making any argument to that. She turns to her sister team, directing her eyes to the members needing her help. "Don't you two forget this as well. We will be studying at a later time, but until then just get ready for it." She turns and goes after her team.

"Guess we should go and get ready as well." Jaune looks at his team, all nodding in agreement.

They exited the large room, themselves much like the other students, waiting for whoever they'll be calling their mentor.

/-/

The beeping of a scroll could be heard unlocking a door, a person entering their room. He walks past the small kitchen and living room, entering a separate door leading into the bedroom. He undresses, going into the bathroom starting his usual routine. A while after he's dressed in his pair of black sweat pants, leaving his top half shirtless.

He enters the kitchen, eating a quick dinner prepared beforehand, checking the time on his scroll.

 _7:40 PM_

Embrah sighs at the time left remaining in the day, got up and washed his dishes and entered the bedroom to lay down. He looks up at the white ceiling above him, his body sprawled on the bed, thinking back to how he got himself in this situation in the first place.

It was surprising of course, something he didn't think he would be doing, let alone something he would have agreed to in the first place. Teaching at a school made to bring up the next generation of Huntsmen?

"Ugh, what was I thinking?"

It's not to say he didn't have any experience teaching others in his age group – in fact, it was something he was quite used to doing. But to choose to accept the position nonetheless was, in his view of things, extremely foolish, in more ways than one. But, he was pretty much at the end of his rope, knowing that the path he was previously taking had little to no impact on him, save for a few instances of meeting very impressionable people who helped him in other ways.

But in all honesty, if he was in any other situation to which he was given a choice similar to or leaning on a different path, he would've agreed. It's not a smart thing for him to do, but he has no other options. Either he starts to hunker down and deals with his issues now or to let it simmer and grow in the back of his mind, waiting for something to trigger it loose.

He sighs heavily, reaching over to the nightstand and grabbing the scroll he was given six days prior. He sits up, opening it to the student files he'd downloaded for himself. Within were the students he had chosen to mentor, himself quite looking forward to seeing just how well they will do and how far they'll go with his guidance.

Looking at each file, he could immediately tell where each student was at in skill level and where they eventually improve. And seeing how almost all of them were in need of a change in how they fought, he knew he had some work to do.

He glances at the time again.

 _8:05 PM_

' _Seems like a good enough time as any.'_ He starts to create a message to send them for instructions. _'Hope Glynda wouldn't mind me getting an early start. Who am I kidding, she's probably going to chew my head off.'_ He thinks back at the meeting he had with the other teachers and how he got more of a negative impression with the Huntress two hours prior.

…

" _Now, if anyone would like to start us off, please present the teams who you've chosen to mentor." Ozpin asks, himself as well as the others present in the room with a mug of coffee in front of them, save for Glynda and Embrah, both opting to have tea and water respectively. Glynda nods at Ozpin, placing her scroll on the table before them, a holographic image of a team projected in front of them._

" _I've given the thought of choosing team CFVY as my mentees. They have proven time and time again to meet and exceed my expectations when it comes to mission completions at a rate of 85% and rising with the added fact that they keep collateral damage at little to none in their wake. I've also seen that their paired partners have been compatible on and off missions. They have very promising futures if they can keep on this route."_

" _I can agree with you on that, Glynda." Port nods. "The last mission I've gone with them had been for Grimm Extermination and it let me see how each member impressed me with how they handled the hordes of the bloodthirsty beasts. Those youngsters are a cut above the rest. I approve."_

" _Ditto for me. Very well, team CFVY is in your capable hands, Glynda." Ozpin says._

" _Of course." She replied, removing her scroll._

" _Anyone else now?"_

" _I have." All heads turn to the newest and youngest member._

" _Ah, Embrah my boy! I've looked forward to seeing who you've picked." Port exclaimed._

" _Indeed, as did I." Oobleck turned, interested._

 _Glynda side glances at him, wanting to know herself, perhaps more so than anyone else._

" _Well now, show us your chosen team, if you would." The Headmaster urges._

 _Embrah places down his own scroll on the table, the holograph displaying a set of images to them._

" _Oh ho! Very bold choice if I do say so myself." Port laughs._

" _I say, that's quite a handful your putting yourself through." Oobleck adds._

" _Unacceptable! You can't assume you can just do whatever you want because of your predicament. It's not something that can be approved of." The Headmistress displays her displeasure against his choice._

" _Now before we jump to conclusions, why don't you explain why you've chosen these individuals." Ozpin asks calmly._

" _Well for one, this has nothing to do with what I'm currently dealing with, so you don't have to worry about that. I'll keep my promise."_

 _Ozpin nods._

" _And secondly, during the week I had a lot of free time on my hands due to the whole registration process and decided to watch some recordings of matches and other surveillance footage of your students' activities, at the same time reading their files. I then deducted that the ones selected here have the potential to do amazing things in the line of work they will soon have, in more ways than one. Just the way some of them are now, if they were to continue with their current path, it would surely find ways to backfire on them. As I assume you would know about it yourself, Headmaster."_

" _I see. And you chose to take multiple teams instead of concentrating on one. I would like to ask why."_

" _In truth, I'm used to having multiple students at once. Also, you never said I couldn't."_

 _Ozpin looks at him, then switches his gaze to the holograph. He chuckles._

" _Well then Mr. Bridger, it would seem like you will have a lot of work ahead of you."_

" _Yes, sir." He bows._

 _Glynda sighs. "Ozpin, are you sure that is the appropriate course of action?"_

" _Well, we can't see what our dear Tactics Instructor can do if he's limited. For now, I'll leave it to him. Unless you have anything else to say otherwise."_

 _She glances sternly at Embrah, having her own reasons, but couldn't say so. "No, I don't."_

" _Then it's decided. You're approved. I look forward to seeing their growth, Mr. Bridger."_

" _Yes, Headmaster."_

...

He completes the message and sends it to each team leader for them to meet him the next morning. He places the scroll back on the nightstand and turns off the lamp that was illuminating the room.

He turns on the bed, laying on his back and arms crossed behind his head.

' _This isn't going to be easy for me, let alone for them._ He quickly checks the time on his scroll once more.

 _8:15 PM_

He rolls his eyes. _'Slow much.'_

He goes back to his previous position and closes his eyes. The next day would be quite hectic for him.

/-/

The sound of footsteps and raspy breathing were the only things that could be heard in the empty street. Water splashed where feet were stomped. A man runs down the side of the road looking for a place to hide, a place to get his bearings together. He quickens his step when he hears sounds behind him, turning and dashing down an alleyway, making sharp turns into different streets, running to a building condemned for demolition.

He barrels in, rushing up a flight of stairs until he makes it to the third floor. He slips into a room and quickly shuts it, making sure to keep an eye out for it. He gasps, trying to inhale as much cold air into his lungs as he can. Stumbling near the window near the corner he looks out, viewing the ground below, watching for any shadows moving.

He waits.

…

…

…

Three minutes pass, the man getting his breath back, steadily watching the door as he pulls out a communicator. He breaths deeply before turning the device on, the low hum of it music to his ears. He dials specific coordinates on it, getting the set frequency he wanted.

He moves to press the button on the side to call for help, only for sound coming from the hallway he came from stopping his movements. He hitches his breath, not daring to make a sound, silently moving against the wall away from corner preparing himself to run once again. He feels warms, his body most likely trying to fend off the chilling atmosphere in the building. He stays still, his finger moving toward the button. The warm suddenly feeling increasingly hotter all of a sudden, only for him to feel surprisingly chilly afterward. He breathing starts to become a hassle, himself not knowing the cause, with the strange warmth he felt earlier moving down his body. He feels something wrong. He makes his way to move, only to not move an inch, his legs refusing to do so. He looks down.

His eyes meeting a hand that's not his own protruding from his chest, covered in blood. He tries to make a sound, only for no words to escape his gaping mouth. The hand started to move, the man himself not feeling a thing, his vision fading. It pulls back, detaching itself from him with a loud wet noise, leaving him to collapse to the floor, feeling nothing from the impact. The sound of footsteps was heard through his also fading hearing, moving from the room behind him where the hand came through, striding down a hallway to the door he was surveilling. The door opens, revealing the silhouette of a man. He walks in and crosses the room over to the dying man on the floor, reaches down and takes the communicator.

The man looks down at the dying soul.

"Thanks for holding on to this. You've been a great help." The man said in a cheerful tone, reaching down again patting the man on the head before leaving out towards the door, slowly closing it on his way out, leaving the corpse behind to wait for demolition day.

* * *

 **And that's the chapter. To be honest, really hard time for me to think of where I would take this story and how it should be told. A lot of doubt and wondering whether or not to continue it clouded my mind many times and with some school stuff I have to deal with combined with the hurricane all up in my face, not a lot of time to write, but enough to think.**

 **And so, I've decided to turn this story into four parts (plus epilogue, of course). Now, whether or not I would have the parts in separate stories or to just keep them in one, I've yet to decide that. I've also decided to change the name of this story, so if you don't see Arcane Forsaker in your stories, now you know. I'll most likely change it by the time the next chapter comes out.**

 **Also, gonna be making some OCs for the other teachers, since there aren't any other students at the academy besides the main two teams, with CRDL and CFVY. I've always had a gripe with that fact. Plus, something else. It's never been mentioned in the actual canon, but what the hell happened to all the other first-year applicants at the start of the series. There's no mention of them at all and there was no way that the only teams there were the ones we already know. Did they die in the forest offscreen or something? It doesn't matter now, but still… Ugh.**

 **But other than that, now that I have an idea of where to go with this story, it'll be way easier to write up chapters better now.**

 **Now with that out of the way, bye and have a nice day… or night.**


	6. Chapter 6: Basic Instruction

**Chapter 6: Basic Instruction**

 **Welcome back to the fic.**

… **Got nothing to say here.**

 **Enjoy yourselves.**

* * *

The morning light shines against Embrah's face as he stretched his limbs in his normal routine, his muscles still aching slightly from the training he had beforehand, having cleaned up after before he'd made his way into the Emerald Forest. Waking up at his usual time before dawn, wearing the combat outfit he had on the previous day, he decided to take the time to do some of his own training in one of the training rooms before having his teams arrive in the forest, himself not wanting to be rusty with the time that he will be teaching at Beacon for the unforeseen future.

Doing the basic exercises, one would do at his own pace – standard running, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, pull-ups, etc. Afterward, practicing his style of fighting for a few hours before switching over to stretching to help reduce the strain from the workout, preventing his body from locking up in discomfort, before ending it with meditation. The last part something he had to learn the hard way after ignoring the advice from his own master to let his body rest from training, resulting him in pulling muscles and gaining cramps for weeks after gaining new skills. That was the last time he'd ever ignore something from his master, both because of the usefulness of them and from the fear of ignoring them again less he wanted to receive punishment from him. The last time he did so…

Embrah shudders at the memory.

He walks over and sits cross-legged under a nearby tree on the cool grass with his hands on his lap and his eyes closed, starting his meditation, his deep breathing the only sound to be heard around him, muscles relaxing at the stillness he's put himself in. He often enjoys his meditation sessions more so than he would admit, actually sometimes would cheat a little on his regime just for this time of ease he has. One of the only pluses he had while being a part of the clan, the other times would be him hard at work training himself or others in the teachings of the Yōsuru clan.

If anything, he rather enjoys his placement he'd been put in to train the current generation of assassins to their highest potential to be reached, as it is a wonder to see how they would evolve themselves. And while the position he is in now is very different from two years prior, he can't say that training others isn't something he'd missed doing. And this time, he would make sure that his students will be prepared for going up against opposing forces that can and will try to kill them, Grimm and people included in the mix.

He tightens his fists. _'I won't let the same mistake happen again_.'

A couple of minutes had passed before he heard the sound of footsteps followed by some voices coming toward his direction. The sounds get closer to where he's able to see how had arrived, and from the look on their faces, he was apparently someone they didn't think they would have as a mentor and had mostly uncertainty written on their faces. Well, all but one.

"Oh look, it's that guy Yang was talking about!" He hears someone say and judging from the high pitch of their voice, a female. He opens his eyes only to see a pair of turquoise one staring back at him. He blinks and leans back a little to see Nora Valkyrie sitting in front of his form on all fours, a wide smile on her face.

' _Huh, didn't peg her to be able to sneak up on anyone like that. Especially for her personality and fighting style.'_ Embrah thought while looking behind her to see her teammates walking close. _'This'll be a new change for me to have students I have no experience knowing all too well.'_

"Hello, Miss Valkyrie." He nods at the girl in front of him.

"You know my name already?! You must be really, like really smart to know that. Oh, I knew that you'd be a genius or something!" Nora bounces in place, her smile turning into a grin.

"Nora, I don't think that you popping up in front of him like that is something that's necessary. And I'm sure that he just looked at our files for your name, as well as all of ours I'd assume." Ren says to his friend, himself and the others meeting them both while also getting a confirming nod from the man. Embrah looks to see not only team JNPR but also team RWBY, whose members had various looks on their faces as well.

Nora giggles before standing up. "Sorry, Ren."

"So, Em," Yang crosses her arms, smiling at the young man. "Any reason all of us were asked to come out here at our normal time to be in classes? And why you are here?"

"Yang, why ask that when it's so obvious?!" Ruby rolls her eyes at her sister's ignorance. "Embrah's going to be our instructor!" She pauses and looks at the members of JNPR. "I mean you are, right?"

Weiss saunters up to the young man in question and scowls down at him. "Please tell me that this a joke and that you aren't our instructor, because if it is, it's not a funny one. This is something that I cannot accept, no offense to you or your apparent teaching career."

"Yeah, we were hoping to know that too, if you don't mind me asking as we were asked to be here as well." Jaune adds.

Embrah looks at them and nods. "Yes of course. I'll be clear here and now on who would be your instructor. And I apologize, Miss Schnee, but I will be your teams' mentor, and most likely will be for the next two years here, before moving on to another."

Weiss's eyes narrowed and scowled deeper, while Ruby's eyes lit up and smiled at the news, as well as Yang's. Blake only had a neutral mask in place.

"And as for your team, Mr. Arc," He turns to the others. "Get used to calling me your mentor, as well."

Confusing spread throughout the eight teens in front of him.

"Wait, there isn't a rule preventing a teacher from being able to pick more than one team at a time?" Pyrrha questions.

"No, actually there isn't. The Headmaster never said that one couldn't have more than one team under their supervision. So, I thought I'd take advantage of that fact and have a selection that I'm more used to."

"And so, while we now know what the situation is with who's mentor is who's, what are we doing out here, and yeah, it's still my question, Teach." Yang spoke up again, wanting to see what their new mentor had in store for them. "Are we gonna have to call you that now?"

"If you want to, Miss Xiao Long." Yang held back a chuckle from him regarding her in her surname instead of her first like last time. "And to answer your question, I'll say it once everyone has arrived." Embrah responded.

"Wait, what do you mean when everyone has arrived? You had more teams selected?" Jaune asks.

"Only one more team, don't worry about that. But I will wait for them to arrive before continuing any further. So, until they arrive, try to see if you can entertain yourselves until then." With those words, he closes his eyes once more to finish his meditation, leaving the rest to disperse and pass the time. Or, that's what he had planned to do, if not for the three individuals still present in his space.

He opens one eye to see Weiss, Ruby, and Yang standing there, the heiress with the clear indication of having more questions for him. Before she could state them, however, Yang sat down in front of him, using her arms to support her. "Before Miss Ice Queen over here gets to assault you with questions, I have one for you first."

"If this is about the promise of our fight, I also apologize but I don't think I can do it now of all times." Embrah started to explain but was cut off when Yang held up a hand for him to stop.

"While I am very excited to fight you with you knowing of me trying to actively punch you, it's actually something to do with your way of speaking to us."

Embrah hums, motioning her to continue.

"What's with you addressing us by our last names? Last time we talked, you called me and Ruby by our first names."

His eyes widen slightly before a small smile settled on his face. "Sorry, it was just a habit. I was so used to teaching before and after getting new students after so long, I just kinda shifted back to how I would talk to them, and I probably still will. But after lessons, I'll go back to first names if you want."

Yang smirks at the explanation. "That's fine. And I hope you don't mind me calling you, Teach, or something similar. Still gotta come up with a good name for ya."

"I look forward to it, Miss Xiao Long."

"While my teammate is okay with you calling her by her given name," Weiss interjects. "I'd prefer that you address me as you do now if you will."

Embrah nods to her. "As you wish, Miss Schnee."

"Now as for my question I have for you-"

"So Embrah… uh, I mean Teach. Or, uh…" Ruby stuttered. Weiss gives her a disapproving look for interrupting her. Embrah gives her a quick, yet gentle glance, trying to ease the nervousness she had.

"You can just call me by my name if it helps you."

"Yeah, got it." The young girl took a quick breath. "Embrah, I was kinda wondering, where's your sword?"

He sits straight up at the question, causing the young girl to let out a short "eep" in response.

"Is there a reason as to why you know about me having one to begin with?"

Ruby tries to look as innocent as possible, searching for the words. "Well, um, your bag was just lying on the ground and I tried to get it to you at first, but then Yang pretty much insisted that we check to make sure your stuff was okay, her words, not mine, and goaded me with your weapon when she took it out after taking a peek inside."

"You traitor!"

"I'm really sorry about that. I won't look in your stuff again, promise!" She held her hands together in front of her frame.

Embrah sighs, going back to the position he was in before. "It's all right. Just make sure to ask next time if you need to know something. I won't say no, less it's something I can't say to others, of course. And that goes for everyone, too." He spoke a little louder for the others to hear this as well, more so to a certain blonde who everted her eyes anywhere else other than the swordsman.

Ruby breaths in relief.

"As for your question, I left it behind in my room. No need to bring it with me today." She nods, happy and slightly disappointed with the answer.

"Now that my leader had her own question know, however how rude it was to do so in the process," Ruby shoots her a quick apologetic glance. "I would like to know what kind of work did you do before-"

"Hey! Anyone over here?" A voice is heard from the direction where the others came from.

Embrah makes to stand and stretches his limbs once more. "Apologizes, but it looks like your questions will have to wait a bit. It looks like the last team has arrived."

"But-" The heiress sighs at the little defeat.

Everyone turns to where the last team made themselves known and the response from seeing exactly who they were set Yang off in anger, her eyes flashing red at the sight of them. "What are they doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing, Blondie." Cardin growls, a smirk on his face, his teammates right behind him. "We came here expecting some teacher, instead we get the loser squad of Beacon."

"Cardin, you better look in the mirror to see who you really should be calling a loser, and if my memory recalls, I still have some beef with you."

"Trust me, you've won in the beef department. Grade A quality too." He laughs, fist-bumping his partner in the mohawk at the not-so-subtle mention at her assets.

A tick forms on Yang's forehead, her sister trying to stop her from making her way over to them with her fists clenched. "Well, it looks like I now have two things to kick your ass for."

"Bring it, Blondie." Cardin walks forward, reaching for his weapon, his team staying close behind.

Pyrrha started to go and help resolve the confrontation, stopping only to look down at the man she would call her instructor, who made no attempt to get up and intervene. "Aren't you going to go help or at least stop them from going further?"

Embrah doesn't look at the young spartan, only moves his mouth to speak. "Any reason why I should?"

"Any reason?" She gawks at him. "You're supposed to be our instructor. You should be using your position to stop this."

He turns to look her in the eye. "No, Miss Nikos. I'm not going to get involved with things that don't have any effect on me nor have any lingering effect on anyone that would extend in the long run. It's not my business to get involved, and neither is it yours."

Pyrrha couldn't believe what her ears were hearing, couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. He was in charge of them, supposed to teach them and help them get better as Huntsmen and Huntresses, and here he was, sitting on his butt doing nothing! Before she could try to talk some sense into him, she was interrupted by the voice of her leader behind her.

"Yang, stop! Don't get heated from his words." Jaune said, putting himself between both teens before things get too heated. "And Cardin, stop trying to get her riled up. It won't end well for both parties."

Cardin clicked his tongue, going up to him and poking a finger in his chest. "Look Arc, I may owe you one for saving my hide from that Ursa Major during that time in Forever Fall, but don't think that you can butt into what I do personally. I don't have any problems with you, but I'll be clear now. You get in my way and you're gonna get run through too. So, what's it gonna be?"

Jaune scrunches his brow, backing up from the taller boy, taking his place beside the two sisters.

"I'm always going to be with my friends," Ruby looks up at him, a small smile on her face. "And I'll try to stop them from doing something that could result in things that could get them in trouble, unintentionally or not." He looks at Yang saying this.

She stares back at him, exhaling a deep breath and lowering her fists, prompting Ruby to let go. "Thanks, Vomit Boy," Jaune deflates a little at that. "While I really appreciate it that you'd do that for me, for any of us, I don't need you to handle my problems for me. And you," She glares at the larger teen. "I can brush off talks about me any time of day, I'm used to it. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, talks smack about my sister."

Cardin smirks. "What? I was just speaking the truth. Some brat getting into a such a high-ranking school for monster hunters by meeting the Headmaster, with no real exploits that could get her into this school otherwise. She got in cause she stopped some stupid robbery, hell she didn't even win in the end with Goodwitch showing up." His smirk widens. "Face it brat, you got in on a lucky break, no other reason."

Ruby shrinks back from his words, each one hitting her with the fact that they were true, no matter who says. Her overall academic and combat scores while attending Signal Academy were above average than normal, even able to beat a couple of students above her year in combat practice, but all of that wasn't near what was required to send transcripts for the school nor was it impressive enough to be considered through recommendation. It still would've taken her to finish the next year at Signal to consider going to Beacon, maybe even apply early because of her great scores.

But she happened to be at the right place at the right time, stopping Roman Torchwick and meeting the Headmaster was a lucky break to get in, and while she never said it or thought about it much, she knew herself that to be the case. And Cardin speaking it out loud and making it clear to her, only made that remnant thought more and more apparent.

Cardin laughs. "Look, even she knows it's true, it's even written all over her face."

Yang moved forward, ignoring Jaune's protests as she went by him, moving to stand right in front of the tall Huntsman-in-training, looking up at him, her face expressionless yet still radiating fury. "That was the last straw, you pompous bastard."

Cardin leaned back a bit before maintaining his composure and glaring back at her. "You wanna do this now? Be my guest." His team right behind him, weapons readied to be drawn.

The others going up next to the blonde brawler, both her other teammates ready with their own stance, Blake's hardened glare pointed to the leader with Weiss next to their own leader, one hand on her shoulder with the other touching the hilt of her rapier. Team JNPR staying back, but also ready to go should something happen.

A fist clenches.

"Alright now. Seems like it's almost time to go." Everyone present paused at the sound of Embrah's voice, looking back at the man who was previously sitting down up on his feet and looking at beat-up looking pocket watch. He walks over after placing the watch back in his pocket to where the center of the confrontation was taking place, passing by JNPR and the other members of RWBY.

"Embrah, now not the time for you or anyone to get in my way right now. So, if you don't mind…" She stops when his hand was placed on her shoulder. She turns to glare at him, noting his calm face and soon found herself feeling less and less angry as if the emotion was fading away to nothingness, to the point of letting her fists lay at her sides.

"You're angry, and that's understandable. But now isn't the time. If you still feel the need to exert those feelings, notify me before you go do something to try and calm it if you feel like it's too much for you. Is that compromise to your liking?"

Yang blinked and after a few seconds nodded to him.

"Hey! Who are you to get in the way of my business, huh?!" Cardin grabbed him by his collar, bringing him towards him, Embrah not doing anything to retaliate, holding up a hand to stop a confused Yang from advancing.

"Wait a minute, you're that kid who was next to Ozpin on the stage yesterday. A wannabe Huntsmen teacher. Oh, don't tell me that YOU'RE ours." Cardin sneers at him.

"That's correct, Mr. Winchester. And I'd appreciate it if you let go of my collar so we can get started." Embrah said, still calm at his predicament.

"Uh, no. No way. I'm not going to listen to someone who is on the same level as me for anything." He shoves him back, turning around to his team. "I'm not going to take this, no, we're not going to take this." He gestures to his team, two of them nodding in agreement, with one staying silent. "Let's go guys."

"Afraid you can't leave here as of yet." Embrah called out, fixing his collar.

"Oh, yeah? How come, big shot?" Cardin replied mockingly.

"Even if you went to complain to the Headmaster himself, you wouldn't get anything out of it. There is no reason why I'm not acceptable to be in the position as your teacher since I haven't even started my teachings. So," He turns around and started walking in a random direction. "If you have any problems to address to Ozpin, do so after I give you an example."

The three teams watched him go, heading farther from the school.

"Well, we can't sit here and wait for something. Let's go." Jaune said to everyone, going after the man, followed by his team. Yang looked over to where Ruby was standing beside Weiss, the girl having her lips pressed with a gloomy expression.

"Ruby…"

"It's alright, Yang." Ruby looks at her with a sad smile. "It's not like what he said was wrong about what he said."

"But you know that you were meant to be here. I know you are. You always were. He was way over the line talking to about you like that. He's a jerk."

"Doesn't make what he said any less true," Ruby turns and walks in the direction of the others, CRDL already far ahead of JNPR. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"I'll try to see if I can make her feel a bit better." Weiss sighs, heading off to her leader.

Yang watches them go, feeling distraught in the fact that she couldn't do anything in stopping Cardin from talking. Granted, she could've actually stopped him from speaking, yet for some reason just… let him go on. Is it because she was so mad that she was just waiting for a chance to put the bully in his place? To let him know that even if he talked that way, she wouldn't do anything out of control and be collected when going to kick his behind to kingdom come? Knowing that what he said about her little sister to be true to a fault… _"No, don't think like that!"_ She screamed internally, bunching up her fists. _"She deserves to be here. Nothing will change that fact."_ If Embrah didn't step in, she would've had the excuse to bash the guy's face in. If he didn't, she probably would be in so much trouble after she was done with him.

"Yang." She shook away her thoughts, turning to see her concerned partner still beside her. "You okay?"

"Not at the moment I'm not." Yang sighs. "I just can't believe I let him say that stuff. Blake, I don't know what I should say to her."

"Just let her have some space, it could at the very least let her mind process. She'll be okay, this is Ruby we're talking about." Blake motions her to follow after the others as to not be left too far behind. "But it's not only her I'm concerned about."

"What do you mean?"

"As long as I've known you in these past couple months as your partner, I've never seen you pull back from a fight, especially when personal reasons are involved, and drop it just from someone talking to you. What was going on there?"

"Is that so surprising that I can hold back from slamming someone's head in the ground?"

"No, in most cases. Still pretty shocked you know any self-control at all."

Yang rolls her eyes. "Haha, funny. Didn't know that you'd have a sense of humor."

"Of course, I do. I have a particular type of comedy that makes me laugh. Most jokes get me"

"But, I'm funny and you don't laugh at my jokes."

"Yang, jokes and your puns are two completely different things." Blake deadpanned.

"Hater." She pouted, before narrowing her eyes in thought. "But I'm not gonna lie and say something wasn't weird going on there. I felt so much anger that I was going to explode right there and you know me – would've mopped the floor with Winchester in 30 seconds flat. Then, I just felt the anger almost disappear entirely as soon as Embrah touched my shoulder. I don't know what happened, but I know that he was responsible for it."

"Well, he is supposedly our better since Ozpin had him become a teacher here. And regardless of his age, I would assume that any experienced Huntsmen would have tricks up their sleeves when in front of conflict. I've heard of some who are able to defuse an argument with just a few words and specific gestures in the past."

"What's the big deal with that? A lot of people can do that, even I could if I tried."

"Oh, so you can stop massive raids upon villages, handle corporation dealings with minimal loses to either company and cease budding war conflicts from even starting with just your words, huh?" Blake smirks at the dumbstruck look her partner had on her face. "I would very much like to see that."

"Okay, I can see that they're on another level."

"But, to be fair, it's only ones who have a knack of doing negotiations and do them as their main job. If anything, it's a rarity for anyone to be that charismatic to persuade people in such masses."

"But, do you think that Embrah has that sort of skill? I mean, I wasn't calming down after he started talking, it was before."

"Whatever he did, I'm now more interested in him than before. Ever since I met him, he gave off this feeling to me. It's been bugging me ever since." Blake narrowed her eyes, the experience before making her more and more anxious as time went on. She's not really sure what she felt from him, not really having anything prior to compare it to, not even to anyone else that she personally knew, a certain red-headed swordsman coming to mind. But whatever it was, it shook her, not to the point of feeling in danger from him, but it was so unknown to her that she tried to bury it for the whole week, hoping that it would go away by itself. And it almost worked before today, now knowing that the man himself is going to be around her and her team a lot more.

She doesn't know what it was, but she'll make sure to know exactly what it is.

"So, what? You think he's dangerous to us?"

"Well, no. I wouldn't say that. But, it'll a good thing to keep watch over him. Only for a little while, at least."

Yang hums, folding her arms behind her back. "I'll stick with you on that, Blakey. If only to make sure he's safe to be around. In all honesty, he seems like a pretty cool guy."

"Not really that sure to judge people from a couple of meets, but I feel the same if just a little."

"Well then, it looks like the Ace Detectives of RWBY are on the case of the mystery instructor!"

"No need to be too excited about this, Yang." The blonde just grins in response, Blake herself not able to hide the smile upon her face.

"Hey, gotta make it entertaining. Now, let's hurry. Time to start our investigation." With that, she picked up the pace, Blake not too far behind.

/-/

The group exited out of the forest and approached a large clearing enclosed around with trees, the area flattened out and level with some eroded boulders not there naturally, most likely there cause of some excited first-years from past initiations having their own run-ins with the Grimm in the forest. Embrah led the three teams over to the middle of the clearing, stopping and turning to face them.

"All right, we're here. Now what?" Cardin questioned impatiently.

"Hey, this place looks kinda familiar. Feels like we've been here before." Jaune looks around at the surroundings as he says this.

"I would assume that it would. To all of you" Embrah states, gesturing to them all.

"All of us?"

"That's right, Mr. Arc. You should recognize the area, as it's near the place you all had to collect the relics to pass and ultimately form your teams. The temple itself is approximately 85 meters to the east from us. It should be obvious to you all, considering the fight between the Nevermore and Deathstalker you and RWBY had to fight."

Jaune coughs into his fist, looking away sheepishly.

"Well, nevermind that. We are here to address a particular situation. I know that some of you are concerned about having me teach you all for the next two years or so. And you'd like some someone who you'd consider better for that. Am I right?"

Cardin clicked his tongue. "Nailed it straight, genius. Any point to this?"

"There is. I propose a little game for you all. More of a play match, if you will."

"You want us to play with you? You think this is an appropriate time for such child's play?" Weiss frowned at the man.

"It's more than just a game, mind you. I'll be quick to explain." He walks in front of them all, glancing up at the sky momentarily. "This is for those who wish for another change, both for those individuals and for their teams as a whole. The goal is whoever can get a single hit on me in any way, be it an intentional attack or an incident on my part for my carelessness. If you are able to do so, then I will personally go speak to the Headmaster and ask for you all to have a different instructor."

"Is that right? And I am to assume that we can use any type of offensive measure we choose?"

Embrah smiled. "There wouldn't any point to this activity if you weren't able to do so, Ms. Schnee. And before I forget, you are allowed to attack me one-on-one or in groups if you so desire."

"Woah, you're being pretty confident to add a rule like that. Is that really fair for you?" Jaune asked.

"Don't worry about that. Anything goes within the rules. Just know that anyone participating will have only three moves for your turns. Meaning that if you decide to come at me as a group, any move you all come up with together or if any move your teammates do against me by themselves will count as a move for everyone in that group. Do the rules satisfy you lot?"

"If that's all we gotta do, then consider this the first and final lesson you'll teach." Cardin said with a smirk.

"These terms are fair." Weiss said, rolling her eyes at the armored male.

Jaune, feeling uneasy, looked at the people around him. They weren't even going to give the guy a chance to show them what he can offer them and they were just deciding to get rid of him as quick as possible? That isn't something ones such as them should go through so quickly, especially as Huntsmen-in-training. They were given a chance to receive hands-on instructions from someone who could be more experienced them they were, perhaps even more so given his rapid placement in the school, and want to waste it right then and there. That isn't very smart. Not for them.

"Guys, you can't be serious. We just met him. And he might actually be a good teacher. Shouldn't we just try out with him first before doing this?" He reasoned.

"Arc, as much as you have good intentions for this person, I simply can't accept someone on our level doing any sort of teaching to me." Weiss spoke with a hardness in her voice. "And if he cannot live up to how he was presented to us by Ozpin, then I have no reason to listen to anything coming from his mouth that would help to improve myself, no matter who speaks highly of him."

' _Also, the fact that I couldn't find a single thing about him last night.'_ Weiss spent the prior night researching the newest addition to Beacon's staff, looking through official documents of Huntsmen teaching in recent years and closing in on her searches of sensational or gifted teens in particular, even going as far to peer into documents from different Kingdoms with help from visiting the CCT and requesting the docs with help from her standing as part of the Schnee family, using one of the many perks that comes from having the name.

But after hours of research and scanning through records, she couldn't find a single piece of legal documentation on the man, not even a mention of him from just looking up his name regularly, hoping for something and finding nothing. _'No such luck in that department. Seems like he doesn't want anyone knowing about him for some reason, as he keeps dodging my questions specifically. Although, with how things are now, this can be my chance to find out what I need to know.'_

"As this is for our benefit, I would like to propose a deal with you."

"Oh," Embrah perks up at the heiress. "And what would that be?"

"Since this pertains to us all as one, if anyone of us were to land an attack on you, I'd like for you to answer me specifically who you are and where you've come from. I also want to know exactly why and how you are qualified to be teaching at the age you are at now." ' _Let's see you have an excuse for me this time.'_ Weiss thought smugly.

"Yeah, that's alright."

Weiss almost fells from his casual response.

' _Okay, didn't expect him to agree so easily.'_

"But I'm to assume that I get something in return if you aren't successful?"

Weiss quickly composes herself, coughing into her fist. "Of course, if we don't, I at the very least will follow your teachings without any acts of recommending a different instructor afterward. And I'm sure that includes everyone else that would be participating in this."

"That's all fine. I accept, Ms. Schnee." He bows his head. "Well now, the ones who feel that they should see if I'm worthy to train you, please step forward."

Immediately after saying this, the entirety of CRDL walked up to him, themselves seemingly very eager for the chance to fight the man.

Weiss also walked forward, hand placed on her rapier, Myrtenaster. She looked to her right to see her bow wearing teammate joining her. "Seems like you have some sort of idea that he is someone to be looking out for as well, huh." She voiced in a hushed tone.

"Not as much as you're supposedly are."

"And what do you mean by that, exactly?" The heiress asked arching her brow.

"You're not as quiet as you thought. It's kinda easy hearing you typing up a storm and disgruntled noises coming from under your sheets."

"One, it's rude to listen to what I'm doing with my time and two, why do you think I would do such a thing where I could just as easily have been trying to find a suitable dress for the prom?"

"Because anyone looking for a dress wouldn't normally talk about, and I quote, "having no records must really make you a gem illusiveness," whatever that means. Also, not hard to listen to what you say if every one of us can hear you."

Weiss huffs and turns to the other two members of her team, seeing Yang giving a thumbs-up and nodding sagely, seemingly knowing what the two were talking about, an arm around Ruby, who started to look better than before, and although not by that much, manages to put a sad smile on her face. Both girls knew that their leader would be excited if the young man turned out to be the one they would follow, yet also knew that it won't be something that they'd all accept. Now seeing this little contest to see whether or not he would teach them, it's made her uneasy on the outcome.

"You planning on doing this your own way?" Blake asks the girl to her left.

"Actually, I'd prefer it if we face him in this together. You up for it?"

Blake smiles. "You have something in mind?"

While they plan their method of attack, another step forward.

Jaune looks at his teammate in surprise. "I wouldn't guess that you'd go out there, Ren. Why the choice?"

Lie Ren looks back at his leader. "At first, I wasn't going to. Like you, I wanted to see what he has in store for us in training, but I want to check something about him first. And hopefully, I will."

"Well then, good luck out there."

"Tread carefully. We don't know how his style of fighting is." Pyrrha advised.

"Be sure not to break his legs too much. He seems nice." Nora added with a grin.

"Wasn't going to try, but will do, Nora." Ren chuckles.

The seven teens took their place facing Embrah, the man himself having limbering up waiting.

"Now, before we begin, I'd like to say that no matter what you do within the game when it comes to facing me, I won't launch my own attacks. At best, I'll leave it at countering you all, so no need to worry about me fighting back. With that, whoever wants to go first, you can start at any time."

Not two seconds after he says this, he ducks over to the side before a mace could make contact with his head, then having to leap back as the same weapon smashes the ground where he had stood. _'Hmm, that was a fast response.'_

"Cardin!" Dove yelled out. "I thought we were doing this as a team."

Cardin rips his weapon from the ground, smirking at his teammate. "Please, we don't need to go that far for this guy. I'll only take me."

"So, I take it that you'll be doing this first match yourself, then?" Embrah asks.

"Of course. No reason why I shouldn't. I'm more than enough."

"Good to know. This means that the rest of your team will have their own shot at me. Oh, by the way, you have two moves left." He says, holding up fingers to represent the number.

The leader of CRDL snarls. "Don't get smug with me because you dodged easy shots, cocky bastard."

He rushes up to him and swings a hard right, Embrah side-stepping it. The mace-wielder quickly following up by slamming the weapon on the ground, causing the dust infused within the center to ignite, forcing fire into the ground, the force traveling towards Embrah. He flips over the hazard, noticing his opponent dashing towards him, coming for an upwards slash. Embrah lands and twists his body so that his right foot was in the way of the charging teen, using the mace as a foothold to launch himself back even more, landing on both feet with no hassle.

Cardin stares at him in annoyance. Having his attacks evaded wasn't something he liked to tolerate. Especially from a so-called teen hotshot who thinks he's better than him. Looking at him now, he sees him absentmindedly tapping his foot on the ground, looking back with a smile holding up a finger.

'One move left' He mouthed.

The CRDL leader growls, launching himself at the man, scraping his mace on the ground, throwing up dirt and rocks in his direction, causing Embrah to lift his arm to cover his eyes from the spray of debris. He shifts left, moving behind him and swings right using his momentum, aiming for the midsection. The blow nearly connects, only for Embrah to suddenly bring his hand up and grab hold of the weapon, also using the momentum to help bring himself up and over the armored teen, grasping an opening in the armor and flipping him onto the ground roughly.

Cardin grunts in discomfort at the move, quickly sitting up and seeing Embrah on his feet, furious at seeing him swinging his mace around.

"Hmm, this has good balance overall, not a bad weapon, even if simplistic in design." He looks down at the boy. "Well, that's all for you Mr. Winchester."

"Hey, no way! That's it?!" Cardin walks over to him, snatching his weapon from his hand. "That was too short. I can still land a hit on you."

"You could, but it's already stated that you had three chances to do so. And you didn't, so you can't complain to the rules you complied to." He walks past the taller teen. "Now, it's someone else's turn to go at me. So, if it's not too troubling for you." He gestures back to where everyone else was waiting and watching, some of them with expressions of mirth on their faces, especially from RWBY, the white and yellow of the team not hiding their mirth, very much enjoying the results.

Cardin shakes in anger, glaring at the man before walking over back to where his team was. Dove sighs at him as he reaches them. "I told you that we should've done it together when we got up there. But, no, you decided that you were enough for it."

The leader of CRDL scowls at his teammate. "Yeah, I did think that, and I still do."

"Of course you do, but where are you now? If I'm wrong, you didn't touch him, or is the sun playing tricks on me?

Cardin huffs at his partner but says nothing.

"Aside from that, how about next time we decide on something, we actually stick to it."

Dove shakes his head from no response still and moves with the rest of the team towards Embrah.

"So," He starts. "Are you going to do it one at a time as well?"

Dove readies his weapon, same as Russel and Sky, pointing the barrel at the man. "We'll do it in a group. You best be prepared."

Embrah's mouth twitches upwards. "Alright then, whenever you're ready."

/-/

Glynda Goodwitch was always a serious woman, even during her times as a Huntress-in-training she had a strict no nonsense attitude aura around her at all times around others. Letting it known that she has the resolve and dedication as a future Huntress, she prided herself with making soluble decisions when it comes to things that require her attention, whether it's noticeable or not, or if other really think that there's no need for it, promptly annoying her more so then they themselves. But, damn it if she won't do so and solve it out of spite.

Of course, that was when she was younger and much more inexperienced. Now, she has learned that most problems don't need solving, as they mostly solve on its own. Something that she will admit to having trouble accepting but eventually accepting. But, this time, the Deputy Headmistress won't let this new development cause any harm to anyone, whether it be her students or civilians.

Ozpin has given the new addition to Beacon's staff the benefit of a doubt because of his past, and even if the Headmaster does harbor suspicion towards the young man, as he is right now is being way too lenient in letting him do as he pleases, even to the point of risking the lives of his students to this degenerate. But she won't have the same mentality when dealing with the Bridger boy. Even now as she watches a live feed from her scroll, herself on the outskirts of the forest, ready for anything that seems off or poses any danger to the students.

She adjusts herself, staring down at the video feed which shows the three teams with Embrah in the frame, the aftermath of the fight between the instructor and Winchester already done, though to call it a fight was a heavy understatement.

Glynda could only sigh at the results. _'I see Winchester still has much more work in learning to listen to his own partner on matters involving strategy. Though it seems like his partner knows what to do.'_ She would often compliment the young man for his cool demeanor and his ability to make sound decision-making skills in combat training and mock missions they would occasionally take in practice for proper ones later on. Hopefully, this will seep into the leader's brain sooner than later.

"I wouldn't have taken you for the nosy type." Glynda stiffens and then relaxes considerably, seeing that it was the Headmaster who spoke, making his way to her with his always present mug in hand.

"I'm not. As you know, he is someone who shouldn't be roaming freely around the campus nor is he one to be allowed near regular civilians. I'm just making sure that he does nothing short of bringing harm to anyone. And," She added to the Headmaster before he spoke his opinion about this. "as I know first-hand that you're about giving others a second chance, I cannot feel at ease with it."

"That's understandable, Glynda," Ozpin said, looking out at the forest. "While I may not look like it openly, I too am taking the matters of young Embrah's arrival here with caution. If anything, you could say that his being here only confirms and stresses in my doubt that things have looked high and up for us in the past weeks. And if this continues like with the incident from yesterday, I fear that it would be necessary for his presence here."

Glynda looked at him with unease on her face. "There was another body found?"

He nodded. "And with the very similar cause of death as well. It seems that it will continue even more so within the coming weeks, if not days. Making it dangerous for not only for people going about their lives but also could be for students on missions while this whole situation is happening. If anything else, I'm glad that we have more hands-on-deck to help further protect the people of Remnant rather than have to waste the chance to benefit from it."

"But still, to have someone like him here…"

"As it stands now, young Embrah could very well help our students expand their own knowledge on themselves for the unforeseen future.

"Even if you say that…"

"Even if you believe that he shouldn't be here, you can't deny his skills as a fighter. I'm still surprised on how well he did, as you are as well." He gestures to her shoulder; the body part still being moved by her.

Glynda places her hand on it. How could she forget?

Two days after the decision to have Embrah become a teacher at Beacon, he was put through a trial against the teachers there, specifically Port and Glynda in the physical part and with Oobleck with the mental, to see exactly where his level of fighting and planning skills were. It ended up with him being fatigued and barely able to move afterward, his opponents not going easy on him in the slightest, though the same could almost be said for them. Having to fight and maneuver around already experienced Huntsmen was a task he couldn't keep up with, leading him to surrender, but not before exchanging some damage of his own, leading to Port having a hard time holding up his own weapon properly and Glynda being paralyzed from her arm to her mid-section. Oobleck himself, having his test separate from the others, impressed with the young man and his knowledge on certain things.

Needless to say, Embrah passed with far more expectation than previously thought from the staff.

Glynda grips her shoulder. "As that may be true, it's still wise to be cautious."

Ozpin smiles at his Deputy's dedication. "As we shall be, Glynda. Nothing will happen with the boy that we can't handle. And speaking of who, how is he doing with his chosen teams?"

Glynda, almost forgetting her reason being there, looks down at the screen to see what she honestly expected. While the rest of team CRDL had the right idea to try and team up against their opponent, the results were the same, with the members breathing slightly from their apparent barrage of attacks and with Embrah without a single scratch on his person.

"As things would be, him showing how far he is from the rest of them. Although, the next opponents should give a reason for him to try some."

Ozpin looks over at the screen, humming at the two combatants readying themselves. "While I would like to see what they can do against him, I believe we have other duties to take care of today, don't you think?" He finishes, walking back to the school.

The Deputy Headmistress nodded reluctantly, putting her scroll away and following the man.

' _Good luck you two. Hope you get a good hit on him.'_ She rubs her shoulder. ' _Make that two or three.'_

* * *

 **Damn, it's been a hot minute since being on here. Lots of shit has been rearing their ugly heads at my life, with it gladly accepting them with no problem. I hate it and I hope that it one day forms its own physical body, nice and solid, as so I can beat it down. Just like how Checkmate is going to beat Embrah's ass next time, huh!? IDK.**

 **But, while I have you guys here, I need to tell you some things before I continue with the story. This takes place before the events of Volume 2 and most of the stuff from the previous volume are still relevant, but afterwards from this chapter, everything will be original.**

 **Meaning no Salem, no Fall of Beacon (probably…), no Pyrrha getting an arrow through the heart (RIP Miss Nikos), or any mention of maidens and whatnot. Though there will be characters that I will be focusing on a lot more than they are in the actual canon.**

 **Anyway, I'd like to say that the next chapter WILL be post a lot sooner this time, the time being in a week closing in on two. So, either in a week or two, there will be one posted.**

 **And that's it for now. Hope to see you in a couple weeks. Bye.**

 **Oh.**

 **PS. Forgot to come up with a different name for the fic, cause of laziness. Still might and will tell you beforehand. Now, I'm done.**


	7. Chapter 7: Proof of Worth

**Chapter 7: Proof of Worth**

 **Whew… been a while, huh? 1+ years. Yeah, that's what procrastination can do for you. Do I regret accepting the temptation?**

 **No… no I do not. Why you ask? Ha! If only you knew person looking at the screen. If only you knew.**

 **What I'm trying to say is that I'm fucking lazy and shit has been going on. Sorry about that.**

 **Here ya go.**

* * *

"Now then, shall we get started with this or do you two need more time?" Embrah asked, deciding to make himself comfortable by sitting on the grass and waiting for Blake and Weiss to finish up their game plan. Going on for about a few minutes, Embrah didn't mind it. In fact, he's happy that they decided to do so, since having to just dodge out the way from wild and uncoordinated movements was not really something he like seeing in a team. Especially if they are trying to achieve one specific goal in mind, such as trying to land a single hit on him, which in reality isn't all that hard. Just need to know exactly what to do.

Just like how the rest of team CRDL tried to do; they made the right choice of going in as a group instead of individually, seeing as the entire team stepped forward to participate, but failed to make any headway of touching him, opting to rush him as a unit in an attempt to knock him off balance. But just as easily as with their leader, they had no sense of planning against him at all. That's something that can get not only both the individual of the team in serious placement but also any outside variables around them, such as civilians or property damage in some cases. Leading them to eventually use up their moves, lasting the longest so far, though not at all that much of an achievement for the game.

But he will give them credit where credit is due, as not only did the three teens stick together instead of going up against him single-handedly, they also had the smarts to keep their distance whenever they missed an attack as to not be countered by him.

And now the two girls from RWBY stepped up to the plate next, choosing to discuss strategy before attempting anything that could lower their chances at success. Again, a good idea, as Embrah took the time to relax a bit.

' _So far from what I've witnessed first-hand, the entirety of CRDL needs some lessons in pre-planning before going into battles for their first assignment.'_ As the two planned, he had his own inner thoughts about the teams so far. ' _Especially from Cardin, as he doesn't seem to believe that he needs to, which is a big no. But, that's to be expected for someone like him with his personality. Confident, commanding, forceful. Truthfully, it's not a bad thing to have these characteristics for the most part if you're in a position of leadership, but some tweaking is definitely needed, for both him and his teammates.'_

He looks over to the said mentioned team, seeing them all also resting near a tree a couple yards from everyone else, either taking a nap under the shade who Russel and Sky are currentely enjoying or watching them from afar as with Cardin and Dove, the former looking all the more cross than he had been before and the latter with a low leer, although Embrah could see some form of interest within his features.

"We're ready, Bridger."

He turned to see both girls finished with their talk and have positioned themselves in their own formation, Weiss in front with Blake a few feet behind.

Embrah flips onto his feet, brushing the grass off his pants. "Alright then, let's get this started. Hope you both do better than the other four."

"Don't worry about how we measure up against them. Focus on what's in front of you if you want to stay our instructor." Weiss pointed her rapier at him, positioning herself in her familiar stance.

"I look forward to you calling me Mr. Bridger or whatever you want." He says smiling.

She scowls at him, rolling her eyes.

' _Looks like she's going to come for me first.'_ He looks at the black-haired girl behind Weiss, who seems to be taking the backseat to this first move, _'Hmm, let's see what they will do."_ He spreads his legs until they were shoulder-length apart with his right foot in front, facing Weiss with his hands to his side, preparing for any action.

The heiress grips her rapier to the side, point facing down, a light-blue glyph forming underneath her feet. Weiss narrows her eyes, bending her knees before darting forwards at blinding speeds, closing the distance between the two quickly. Embrah readies himself for her incoming attack, his own knees bending to make a fast escape, only to see her extend a hand at him. He quickly looks down to see the same glyph appearing under him. He instinctively jumps to the side before it could activate though it seemed that was what Weiss was counting on, as she used the glyph that was under him to change her direction to where he pushed off to, aiming a thrust to his gut before he could balance out. Embrah, seeing that his feet were starting to touch the ground, immediately pivots his left foot so that he spins off more to the side, placing and forcing a hand on her arm holding the rapier to divert Weiss' attack.

She doesn't let up at that, however as she swings her sword in a wide arc behind her, causing him to flip over it. She turns and quickly thrusts at him as soon as he landed, only for it to miss by mere inches as his arches his back to avoid the strike. He straightens back up just in time to see her coming up and avoids the barrage of stabs covering his vision, shifting his body slightly letting each pass his person. He then jumps back, gaining some space between him and the heiress.

' _She certainly has a good handle on her semblance, but it's to be expected from a Schnee.'_ Embrah thought.

Weiss stares at him before sighing and turning back, walking over to her teammate, who tagged herself in after.

"Not gonna continue, Ms. Schnee?" Embrah called out.

"No, I seen what I needed to. Now, it's my friends' turn to do what she needs to do." Weiss answered, standing akimbo. "As I know she will. Isn't that right?"

"No doubt about that." Blake responded, taking out Gambol Shroud from its sheath.

"Good luck to you then." He nods at the dark-haired beauty, taking his stance from before once again.

No preparation needed for this bout, as Blake started off right away, rushing towards him, her blade flashing in the morning light. Clearing the distance very easily similar to her partner, Blake goes for a slash aiming for his mid-section. Embrah moves to move out of the way backwards, but as he has known from reading their files, it's exactly what she would have been expecting of him, as she seemingly disappears from his sight. He quickly hops off the ground, flipping over and seeing Blake just crouched under him, the blade currently in the area he had previously occupied. She retaliated by shifting her weight on her foot and swung an underhand slash upwards at him as he was landing. Embrah grabbed her wrist in one hand in mid-flip, twisting it making her let go of the weapon, while using the other to push off from a kick aimed for his head.

He lands behind her and twists his body off the ground yet again as she makes for another slash for his legs, having to use her cleaver-like sheath in her blades' stead. He lands and makes to get away from her, having stopped to feel something wrapped around his leg, looking to see it being a black ribbon. He glances at the other end of it to see Blake holding the sword portion of her weapon, noticing the ribbon being connected to the butt of the gun attachment.

' _Oh, how did I forget about that.'_ Embrah mentally face palms at his mistake. He's pulled from his thoughts figuratively and literally as he is sent towards Blake as she moves to deliver her strike with both weapons in each hand. He takes a quick deep breath and using his hands pushes against the still ground, positioning himself to be facing the sky. Blake, seeing him doing so, gives one big push with her leg and closes in on him, bringing her attack at a X-slash. Embrah takes advantage of this and exhales hard, twisting once more after getting closer to her, sliding on the ground between her legs, reaching down and gripping the ribbon wrapped around his leg and pulled on it, causing Blake to have a short mini tug-of-war with him. He lets go and hops on his feet, while Blake stares at him from a distance.

She nods to her self and walks back to Weiss, who was watching the fight with extreme focus.

' _Taking little glimpses at what I can do and formulating a complete strategy from the findings of their fights. Good on them for doing that.'_ Embrah internally complements the two girls.

"So, you two get what you needed?"

Weiss looks at him, a now noticeable smirk on her face. "Yes, we have. Now I hope you are prepared for this, as you won't be able to get off scot free this time."

Embrah cracks his neck, smiling himself. "We'll see, Ms. Schnee. We'll see."

From where the other teams were watching, they have gotten to view their classmates and their soon to be instructor go at it in their game and so far, they've come to the similar conclusion.

"Man, so far from what I've seen, he's pretty good. Ugh, maybe I should've gotten in there." Yang pouts, feeling left out of the show she and the rest were watching. "But, seeing how things are now, not really impressed in just dodging."

"I'm going to agree with you on that Yang." Pyrrha said. "While he may be very adept at avoiding proper hits to his person, he hasn't shown us anything to solidify himself as being a good choice for an instructor." Her tone shifted a bit on that last part, being noticed by her partner.

"Something wrong, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked in concern, his voice hushed only for her ears to hear.

"It's nothing." She smiled at him, the gesture not really reaching her eyes, but Jaune doesn't notice it.

"It's to be expected, as he isn't trying to fight back at all." Ren states. "It is good to see how well he is able to see and evade attacks from us and to see where we would lack in that sense."

Yang smirks. "Yeah, and now we get to see something really good." She has her attention at the three currently in battle, specifically her teammates.

Both girls readied their weapons, Weiss now behind Blake as she positions herself accordingly to their plan. Blake takes her weapon, both blades out, taking a stance with the katana part in her right hand facing Embrah, body low, who in turn takes his stance as well, albeit similar to her own.

They stare each other down, Blake waiting for the moment for her action to be taken. It came thanks to the wind, causing Embrah to close an eye due to some dust, letting Blake be able to shoot forward, bringing in both her blades for a horizontal slash. Embrah moves to avoid it, opting to use her charge against her by shifting his body weight over to his right to let her go past, only for Blake to stop her attack, pushing off the ground and moving back to where she came from instead. A large glyph appears underneath Embrah, but instead of it being the light-blue color from before, it was now black, Embrah quickly tries to leap over, but not being clear the entire thing, his heel catching the edge of it.

He feels himself being pulled towards the girls, and he lets it happen, flying at them. He sees Blake had her own glyph under her, it being in a pale gold, which was seemingly seeping into her. She turns and unleashes a barrage of swings and slashes in his direction not moving from her position, having the glyph amplify the intensity of the slashes, launching them at him. He takes both his hands and slams them on the ground hard, pushing himself off into the air, barely missing the slashes by a hair's breadth.

He sees that Weiss was off to the side preparing some glyphs but had no time to figure out her intention as Black rushes at him, bringing her swords in for an upwards slash. Embrah waits for her blades to come within a few inches of contact before reaching out and griping both her hands with his own, twirling mid-air and sending her away from him. He lands and turns his sight to the heiress, and just in time, seeing that she had a dozen glyphs summoned and ready to be used. Smirking, she changes the chamber of her weapon and combined the ice dust with her glyphs and sent small projectiles of ice through them, making the ice grow to the size of bowling pins and increase in speed towards him, as he was still in the air.

Embrah seized up and hunched his body inward as the ice made contact with him.

Weiss smiled smugly at the sight. "Well, looks like he wasn't as good as he has set himself out to be."

Blake, who had recovered from her being thrown, walked up near Weiss with a surprised expression on her face.

"Yeah, you might want to check again."

Weiss looked up to see that Embrah had come into contact with her ice attack, but with him having some of them caught between his fingers and the rest shattered and scattering to the ground. He lands and brushes himself off.

"And, seems like that makes three, I believe. Good try, girls."

"But, that's never happened before. It shouldn't be possible." Weiss stood there shocked to see that anyone could have caught and deflected her attack with no damage at all, not because she wouldn't have been prepared to have someone do something to avoid it, but for him to actually catch the ice with his bare hands is something she couldn't comprehend.

"What's the big idea of him catching them? It's impressive but not all impossible." Blake stated.

Weiss looked at Blake. "The problem isn't the fact that he caught them. It how he isn't suffering any burns at all from it."

"Burns? But it's just ice."

Weiss looks Blake in the eye. "I guess most people wouldn't know everything about dust, but seeing as you'd probably haven't been in school for long in the past might be the cause of it."

Blake just nods.

"When handling dust, it can be harmless in its raw state, which goes for both dust crystals and powder. But, when it's broken down by any means, whether by use of weaponry, part of a semblance or for industrial and construction purposes, it can be very dangerous to handle, especially with your bare skin. Just as I said before, he shouldn't be able to hold on to the ice like that, as they are far colder than regular ice to the point of burning you to your bones."

Weiss looks at Embrah as he nods towards them, making his way to the others.

"Even with aura," Weiss continued, "he still should've felt the effects from it."

"Guess that proves he knows a lot more about certain things than we do." Blake says.

"Maybe so."

Both girls made their way towards the group, who were, for the most part, all there. Excluding two members of CRDL who were still enjoying their little nap.

"Ok, that was pretty exciting," Embrah said, cracking his fingers. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, there is one more person I've yet to go up against." He turns to the last person to challenge him. "Lie Ren, right?"

Ren stares at Embrah with a blank expression and not saying any response.

"Umm, Ren? You alright, buddy?" Jaune asked, seeing that his teammate was silent in not responding.

Ren walked forward to Embrah, stopping a few feet in front of him.

"Just from how I've seen with the previous examples from your game, I can say that I wouldn't be able to land a proper hit on you, or at the very least it would take me more times to do so. So, I decided to forfeit the challenge of just trying to land a hit on you." Ren states to him.

Embrah hums to himself. _'Pretty surprised to hear someone say that. He has good judgment. But…'_

"Although," _'There it is'_ "I would like to propose that we do something different from the others, if this is okay with you, of course."

"Different you say?" Embrah asked with an arched brow.

"I feel like it would be more beneficial to see you in action when it comes to actual combat. Not just for myself but everyone here. I request a short spar with you, if that's not an issue for you, of course."

Embrah ponders this request. _'I suppose that's fair to do so, considering that just avoiding wouldn't really be a sound argument of me being a skilled instructor.'_

"Very well, I accept."

"Thank you for your cooperation." Ren bows.

"Aww what!? You can fight Ren but not me? And I asked first." Yang groans and pouts at Embrah, not really but kinda feeling betrayed of not getting the fight she wanted.

"Mmm? Oh, apologies Miss Xiao Long, but you should've volunteered when I offered you all to challenge me. To which I'm surprised you didn't do so." Embrah replied.

"Why wouldn't I? If you were chosen to be teaching at Beacon by Ozpin himself, I've got no reason to complain or object. Cause of that, I'd as well give you a chance to see how you'll teach us in the long run." Yang explains, then with a smirk. "Hope you can live up to expectations."

Embrah smiles at her for her reasoning for trusting him with their curriculum. "Well, I hope that I don't disappoint you then."

"Can I fight instead though?"

"You should've volunteered at the beginning."

"Damn." Yang pouts at that.

"But anyway, I'll fight you Ren, but obviously I have to place some ground rules."

"Of course," Ren nods. "I didn't think otherwise."

"Good. First, I want you to give it your all in this match. Second, the time limit will be two minutes as to not waste too much time doing this. And lastly, for myself, I won't be going all out in this match for your own safety. Is that clear to you?"

"Hold on. You'll be holding back? Don't make me laugh!" Cardin interrupts. "You think that you're that skilled that you need to give yourself a crutch against us? Isn't that a narcissistic view."

"You're one to talk, Winchester. You should be the last person to talk about narcissism." Weiss interjects.

"I'm the last person? Look who's talking, Ice Queen. You're literally the walking definition of the word coming from Atlas, especially coming from a Schnee."

Weiss glares at him but feels a tug on her sleeve as Ruby shakes her head silently telling her not to do anything unnecessary, but not before giving her own look towards Cardin. Weiss takes this into account and holds herself steady.

"While I admit to being in that form of behavior before and aware of my actions, I at the very least make an effort to change for the better, both for myself and my team." She looks at Ruby saying the last part. "You should follow in example."

Cardin growls.

"That's enough." Embrah steps in. "To answer your question, Mr. Winchester, yes I do need to give myself a crutch against you for multiple reasons, some that should be obvious to you. But for one of the most important ones, I am a teacher at Beacon Academy. I shouldn't be using my full strength on the very students I'm supposed to be helping nurture into future Huntsman and Huntresses. If you need any other reasoning, please ask me now."

Cardin clicks his tongue but says nothing.

"Good, now if we can get underway, I'd like to go through this match quickly. Are you ready Mr. Lie?"

"Yes, and of course I accept the rules for the fight."

"Let's get started then. Oh, if you don't mind Jaune, would you keep track of our aura levels please?"

"Oh yeah, no problem. Leave it to me." Jaune replies, taking his scroll out to display both his teammates' and Embrah's auras, both at the 100% percent green.

Both men walked towards where the previous matches were, preparing along the way. Taking their stances once situated, Ren poised and ready to strike and Embrah in a relaxed state, waiting for the attack. Ren starts the fight and sprints towards him, thrusting an open-palmed strike at his face. Embrah brushes it aside with his hand, but Ren doesn't stop there as he throws another strike aiming lower at his chest. Embrah leans back avoiding it with Ren dropping low with a sweeping leg that Embrah hops over.

Ren takes the chance with Embrah in the air to launch a knee at him, but being prepared for that, Embrah grabs the leg and spins his body so he comes closer to Ren's body and lands a counter to his chin with his elbow in quick secession.

Ren staggers back from the abrupt blow but quickly recovers and goes back in with a double fist strike aiming towards Embrah's chest once again, but Embrah puts his arms up blocking the attack which pushes him back some few inches but not doing much damage in all.

Ren wastes no time as he backs up a few feet and slides StormFlower out from his sleeves, unloading his rounds at the man in front of him. Embrah blitzes to the side avoiding the stream of rounds aimed at his person. Ren rushes back towards him, continuing firing until he got close enough to slash both weapons at him, aiming at precise points to where he won't have much room for any kind of retaliation.

Embrah dodges each slash with just a second in between each one, using minimum effort to do so. Seeing an opening in the attach, Embrah reaches out and grabs hold of Ren's left arm with his own, spinning his body around taking his captive with him, and flipping him face down onto the ground before mounting him keeping hold of his arm and placing a hand on his head keeping him there.

"Do you yield?" Embrah asked.

Ren struggles against the hold before looping his free arm behind him, taking aim at Embrah midsection and fires, causing him to let loose of his hold and back away. "Sorry, but I still have some fight left in me." Rem replies, quickly standing up taking his usual stance.

"I wouldn't have any other way." Embrah smirks before charging at Ren himself this time, aiming a fist to his face. Ren made to back away from the attack but widens his eyes in surprise as the punch turned out to be a feint, Embrah instead grabbing hold of the gunslinger's collar and bring a knee in his stomach. Ren coughs from the impact but Embrah wasn't done as he goes in with his own palm strikes and assaults the younger male with his barrage. He finishes up with a swift kick to Ren's cheek, making him fly several feet back.

Ren wobbly stands back up, shaking his head to clear it and begun to make his way over to his opponent once more, but stops when he sees him place his hand up.

"Okay, that's enough. Time's up." Embrah announces, walking up to Ren patting his shoulder. "You did well, as expected from you."

Ren retracts StormFlower back into his sleeves before bowing to him. "Thank you for the match. I got to see where I stand now against you. I have no problem calling you my instructor."

"Glad to hear it." Embrah smiles.

"Ren, you alright?" Jaune asks as he and the others watching came over.

"In all, I'm feeling alright." Ren says.

"Are you sure Ren?" Nora asks, worried for her long-time friend.

"Truly, Nora." Ren smiles at her. "It was what I guessed would happen. Our teacher is truly skilled."

"I'll say. You were so fast and quick with your attacks against Ren! Not a lot of people are able to fight that fast with him. You a secret ninja or something!? Cause if you are, teach me your ways!" Nora questions Embrah, her earlier concern for Ren in the past, a big ecstatic smile on her face.

Embrah pauses from the questions before laughing.

"Did I say something funny?" Nora asks, confused.

"No, it's not that," Embrah chuckles, composing himself. "You just remind me of someone I know."

"Another Nora, I don't think we could all handle that honestly." Jaune joked.

"Another me would be great and you know it!"

"Either way, that was amazing nonetheless."

"Yes, well while the fight was an example for you all to see a sample of what I can do, please look at the aura levels of both me and Mr. Lie." Embrah says.

Jaune nodded and checked the scroll for the information along the team, RWBY, and even Cardin and Dove, though they hung back a bit.

"…is the scroll acting wonky for some reason? Cause this shouldn't be right." Jaune questions in surprise at the results of the match, and he wasn't the only one.

"I can't believe that's how low I've gotten." Ren was more surprised than anyone. Feeling for his aura and knowing how it is in his life is something he had great confidence in. But the results shown threw it all back in his face.

 _Embrah Bridger: 98%_

 _Lie Ren: 51%_

* * *

 **Back at it again for a new chapter after sooooo long.**

 **Damn, it actually feels pretty damn good getting back into things. And while it's a late post, it's still Monday so I'm still holding on to the last update. Again, sorry for the short chapter, but the next one will be longer. In fact, the remaining chapters I'll do from now on will be between 5,000 to 7,000 words long. Be grateful for my greatness.**

 **I am sorry for the lateness once again, but I'll try to be better in the coming days. Hopefully I'll actually have a schedule for updates but for now, I'll try to update in a more consistent rate.**

 **Until next time.**


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